The Disney Deal: Good News for Video Games Too?

Disney's $4 billion purchase of Marvel means the gloves are coming off when it comes to comic books and all the possibilities for making money off of them, from toys and cartoons to movies and video games – and video game movies.

Disney is just one of the media conglomerates that's digging deeper into the video game world, and while that does include some rather unfortunate tie-in titles like "Hannah Montana: Rock Out the Show," it also includes really good games like "Kingdom Hearts," a role-playing game featuring classic Disney characters like Goofy, Donald Duck, and Mickey Mouse. And while I haven't played it myself, at least one video game girl professional told me I absolutely must play "G-Force." Seriously.

Right now Warner Bros. is definitely beating the other media giants, both with movie/comic book tie-ins like "Batman: Arkham Asylum" and innovative new games like "Scribblenauts." Now that Disney has its mitts on Marvel, we can expect plenty of Marvel superheroes and villains getting the Disney (well, hopefully Pixar) treatment. Is it possible that Disney will step up its game, so to speak, when it comes to competing with WB and DC's superior titles?

Kotaku spoke with Disney's senior vice president of investor relations, Lowell Singer, who said, "On the video game front, (Marvel) have some smart licensing agreements with some of the best video game manufacturers in the business... While we have been steadily moving in the direction of video game integration, we don't rule out the blend of licensing and self-produced and distributed video games."

Meanwhile, I pinged my go-to game gal Libe Goad, the Editor-in-Chief of GameDaily (which is also owned by AOL), and here's her take on it.

"Traditionally, movie games always sell well, but aren't always the most polished games out there. That goes for all movie games, no matter who creates them. There are a few exceptions of course -- the first 'Spider-Man' movie tie-in game from Activision and 'King Kong' from Ubisoft – but the challenge Disney will have to face is creating a compelling movie-based game with shorter deadlines than a regular A-list game. At least Disney has a head start in turning big brands into games -- so there might be hope yet."