Disney Channel Games
If there’s one “institution” that everyone knows and can say they’ve put money into in their lives its Disney. Founded in 1923, the company started off as a cartoon creator, and since then has expanded and diversified like no one would have ever imagined. Now they are considered the largest grossing multimedia company in the world, raking in almost 5 billion dollars in profit last year alone. They’ve managed to get to this point because of strategic expansion. They’ve expanded into many different types of media, and even travel. They have a humongous portfolio of movies, cartoons and even live-action flicks, as well as radio stations, TV channels and even a substantial web presence. One of their service’s that might not exactly be a large profit maker, but is still definitely a hit with kids and parents everywhere, is there online game portfolio.
Disney’s online game service is not overly well know, or enticing for the majority of internet users, but it has a distinctive user market, one that isn’t always thought about or cared for on the internet, the children and the parents. Their games are distinctive in a very important way, there educational and challenging, yet fun. Disney has become a master of teaching without giving the impression that your being taught or that you’re learning, and for many this is a huge plus. Many parents want their kids to continue their learning after schools out for the day, and what many kids want to do, is just have fun. These games prove to be a pretty good medium. The games they offer don’t all concentrate on education; there are a few games that put the focus on creativity and creation, and a few others that just allow for some goof off time. But these are balanced by the educational and puzzle based games that they offer. Another key factor is that the games use or utilize little to no violence what so ever, keeping them in line with Disney’s squeaky clean “G” rating record. The characters used in the games are also familiar to anyone that has keep tabs on the Disney Channel or on any of their releases. They range from the 101 Dalmatians to Kim Possible to pretty much any positive role model/ character that they’ve come out with. Some characters appear in more than one game, with a different task or challenge to complete.
Walt Disney’s vision for the company, which was a vision that many of his employees and partners agreed with, was that Disney was to be a family friendly company, with G rated movies, and an experience that not just the kids, but the parents could enjoy. This stance on their products has varied a bit, especially under there alternate imprints like Touchstone and Miramax, but for the most part the ideology is still the same to this day. And this stance is still very well portrayed in their selection of games. All of the games that they have available are family friendly, educational and fun. They implement cartoon animation, bright colors, and upbeat music whenever possible. As we’ve seen over the past few years, the “successful” video games are usually the ones that implement violence, and gore. These are the games that bring in the bucks so to speak. While this site isn’t frequented by millions of people all over the globe, it does have a pretty decent sized following, and it isn’t for any sort of violence or gore. The games are just fun, they’re entertaining, educational, and upbeat, it’s something every parent wants their kid to play. What’s interesting is they’ve managed to find a medium, where the parents enjoy the content, but the kids do as well. They’ve taken successful TV shows and brought them to the web, in a context which allows these shows viewers to expand on their normal dose of the show. This has a side effect that was undoubtedly desired, when you have a character that’s popular on TV, putting him or she into a game increases the likelihood that more people will flock to it and play it.
It’s almost surprising to see how much Disney has expended and diversified in the last 50 years especially, they have opened multiple theme parks and resorts all over the world witch has turned them into a serious vacation destination option for anyone with young kids, released probably thousands of movies under there numerous imprints such as Disney, Pixar, Touchstone and Miramax just to name a few, acquired multiple media companies and production studios as well as ABC and its subsidiaries, they poses a huge musical library of their own, and have developed an intense television and internet presence. For any company to reach this it is truly amazing, the presence and profit that Disney manages to produce is truly remarkable, yet they don’t stop, they continue to grow and diversify, and they did so yet again when they implement their online gaming site. This is something however that won’t garner them a ton of profit or revenue like their imprints or their television shows, but it realistically promotes their actually viable products practically for free, as well as promotes their family friendly stance through education and creative stimulation, all while you’re playing a game. They’ve essentially brought Walt Disney’s vision for Disney Studios to fruition in the 21st century in the most realistic way they could have. They’ve found the best medium they could for this kind of offering, they made so it doesn’t feel like you’re thinking or learning while you’re playing these games, even when you are, and there’s nothing better than exercising your mind and learning while you’re having fun.
