Interesting transcipt was published by Venturebeat regarding a panel at a Causal Connect USA 2018 on acquisitions in the gaming business with Executive Vice President of Gaming for NBCUniversal, Chris Heatherly participating.
He helped transition the company into publishing their own games instead of licensing them out as well as investing Universal into Esports and VR.
Former Disney leader will guide NBCUniversal into mobile games | GamesBeat
During the panel he seems to hint Universal is looking at gaming in order to create franchises that they can exploit in film and television after developing the games.
Below are some excerpts
While this may not happen anytime within the next three months...Universal has already partnered with Square Enix, Level 5 Gaming, Capcom and now Nintendo. Could Comcast possibly be working on ways to acquire them.
He helped transition the company into publishing their own games instead of licensing them out as well as investing Universal into Esports and VR.
Former Disney leader will guide NBCUniversal into mobile games | GamesBeat
During the panel he seems to hint Universal is looking at gaming in order to create franchises that they can exploit in film and television after developing the games.
Below are some excerpts
GamesBeat: Chris, you know about changing patterns in the business from your previous experience at Disney. There’s almost a cyclical pattern to Disney’s interest in games.
Heatherly: For entertainment companies–our view at Comcast Universal is that—Comcast started off as a cable company. It’s become a broadband company. The people in the company know what’s going down those pipes is what’s growing broadband views. Some of it is streaming video, but a lot of it gaming. We have a management team that has a very progressive view toward the games business.
We’re heavily invested in traditional media assets already. We have a lot of capital, but we’re in search of something new. One of the things that I think is attractive to our company is that games are adjacent to both the things we do in the cable business and the things we do in the entertainment side of the business. It’s a new media business we’ve found. That’s the opportunity for us.
The experts give a mixed outlook for game company acquisitions - view all | GamesBeatHeatherly: I wholeheartedly agree with that. We have looked at, from an innovative perspective—we have some strong IP like Fast and Furious, Jurassic, Trolls, Minions. But we would like more. It’s amazing how little game IP there is out there that’s really extensible to other channels of exploitation, whether it’s consumer products or TV or elsewhere. A lot of game IP is really about that game, about the reason to engage with that mechanic. But I think there’s hope.
We were talking about Funko the other day. They do collectible toys. Video game-based characters are actually taking share in that business away from traditional entertainment. I think we’re at a point where we’ll start to see game IP turn into true Disney-like franchises. But having worked at Disney and having worked with game makers, the sensibility is very different. I think there’s a lot of value to be unlocked if you have more game developers pursuing game development from a standpoint of, “How can I use this to build a franchise?” In the same way Disney and Universal and Warner think about that when they make movies.
While this may not happen anytime within the next three months...Universal has already partnered with Square Enix, Level 5 Gaming, Capcom and now Nintendo. Could Comcast possibly be working on ways to acquire them.