“We felt like it’s still going to reach a broad set of folks”: Disney’s gaming lead talks Indiana Jones Xbox exclusivity, the KOTOR remake, and more

What you need to know

• Sean Shoptaw, Senior VP of gaming at Disney, recently offered his thoughts and insight about a range of topics during a recent interview with Axios.
• Shoptaw says the company is “very happy” with its licensing strategy, which sees Disney work with acclaimed developers to create games based on its franchises.
• The firm also isn’t concerned about MachineGames’ upcoming Indiana Jones game being “overly exclusionary” as an Xbox exclusive, and believes it will still reach “a broad set of folks.”
• In regards to the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake that reportedly isn’t being worked on right now, Shoptaw didn’t say much, but did say KOTOR is “an incredibly popular game, one that we are incredibly proud of and think that there’s still a lot of demand for.”

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While Disney has been a dominant force in the film and TV industries for as long as anyone can remember, one sector it’s struggled in is the gaming market. Many of its in-house development studios were shuttered in the 2010s, culminating in a complete exit from game publishing altogether in 2016. Since then, the company’s opted for a licensing approach, working with some of the biggest developers in the industry to bring its properties to life in interactive experiences.

This strategy largely has Disney in the background, and as such, insight about its gaming ventures nowadays tends to be quite rare. A recent interview from Axios with the entertainment firm’s gaming lead Sean Shoptaw, however, offers a look at his thoughts and the company’s strategy.

Overall, Disney is pleased with the success of its licensing approach, which as led to critically acclaimed releases like this year’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. “We’re very happy with where we are now strategically in the work that we’re doing,” Shoptaw said.

He leads a group of roughly 100 producers and executives that help oversee the licensing of Disney’s franchises, ensuring that they land in the hands of studios they feel are a good fit. They’re also doing “a lot of air traffic control” to try and keep new releases spaced out.

Some titles, though, such as Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers and Eidos-Montreal’s Guardians of the Galaxy, didn’t perform well commercially. But Shoptaw understands that creating games is an arduous process, and says Disney would collaborate with the developers behind these games again in the future.

“We would go back and work with those studios again. They’re great studios, great partners,” he told Axios. “Games are really hard to make. If you’ve got great IP. If you’ve got a great story. You know, it’s still a challenge.”

Shoptaw also touched on a variety of other topics, with perhaps the most significant bit of news being that Disney doesn’t think making Bethesda and MachineGames’ upcoming Indiana Jones game an Xbox exclusive restricts where it can be played to an unreasonable degree. Notably, as an Xbox exclusive, the game will be playable day one on both Xbox and PC via Microsoft’s buffet-style Xbox Game Pass service.

“Xbox still being one of the bigger marketplaces for games, we didn’t feel like we were going to be overly exclusionary,” he said. “We felt like it’s still going to reach a broad set of folks, and we felt, financially and strategically for the game, that made sense at the time.”

Shoptaw didn’t offer much about last month’s news that the highly anticipated Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake is currently dead in the water, though it does sound like Disney may be interested in trying to keep the project alive. “Not a lot I can say on that point for some hopefully obvious reasons, but KOTOR is obviously an incredibly popular game, one that we are incredibly proud of and think that there’s still a lot of demand for. I’ll leave it there.”

The gaming Senior VP also reaffirmed Disney’s faith in Square Enix’s upcoming Kingdom Hearts 4, as well as its commitment to diversity and making sure “that things that we see on screen are representative of our consumer base, our audience.” Speaking on the large number of game industry layoffs in 2023, he also noted that the company is “super empathetic to what’s going on, even with our own partners, in some cases,” and that it tries to be “the best partner” and “as flexible” as possible.

All in all, there are some interesting — and telling — answers here. Though a Bloomberg report suggested there might be internal pressure for Disney to publish again through the acquisition of a huge gaming corporation like Electronic Arts, Shoptaw (who didn’t address the rumor directly) made its satisfaction with its current licensing strategy clear. Also, even though he never mentioned Game Pass specifically, it stands to reason that its colossal subscriber base of 25 million across Xbox and PC assuaged concerns about Indiana Jones’ reach as an exclusive. Oh, and as a massive fan of Star Wars: KOTOR, it’s great to hear that Disney holds it in the same high regard that I do. Dare I allow myself to hope for a revival of its remake’s development?