Disney reportedly has plans to sell off FoxNext Games, the game development studio it recently acquired as part of a larger acquisition of the bulk of 21st Century Fox earlier this year.
A source close to the matter shared details of the discussion with Bloomberg, noting that there has been some closed doors back and forth on the subject between execs, but that ultimately Disney CEO Bob Iger wants out of the video game development business completely.
Though the publication notes that Disney declined to comment on the validity of those specifics, Iger has previously noted that he sees the Disney’s video game future as a licensing opportunity, rather than a company involved in the direct creation or publishing of games.
In those earlier comments from a February earnings call, Iger said that Disney has approached self-publishing and development multiple times, to little success. At the time, he noted that the company has historically “been great at the licensing side,” which he says also costs the company less in the long run as well.
Those comments came well after the 21st Century Fox acquisition (which included FoxNext, among other properties) was first announced, but preceded the completion of the deal by one month.
FoxNext Games was founded in back in 2017 and is largely known as the developer of the free-to-play mobile game Marvel Strike Force. The studio itself acquired the then-fledgling dev ColdIron Studios in early 2018 and set the team to task on creating a game based on Fox’s Alien franchise.