Disney has expanded its presence in gaming significantly in recent years, having licensed out a number of its major IP to prominent studios in the industry, from Marvel to Star Wars to Indiana Jones and more. It’s also become increasingly clear with time that the company intends to keep investing in games. As recently as February, it announced that it had purchased a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games, and would be working with the Fortnite maker to develop new “an all-new games and entertainment universe” that will be connected to the popular shooter.
Now, as reported by Variety, as part of its continued efforts to expand its gaming presence, Disney Games is expanding its leadership team, which involves promotions as well as several new hires, with a number of industry veterans joining the company.
For starter, Disney Games lead Sean Shoptaw has been promoted to executive vice president, while Jay Ong, who has been head of Marvel Games for close to a decade, has been appointed the new lead of the global licensing business. Prior to his role at Marvel, he also had stints at Blizzard Entertainment, EA, and Xbox. Ong, in turn, is being replaced as Marvel Games head by Haluk Mentes, previously the head of portfolio strategy and business development.
Additionally, Blizzard Entertainment’s former chief development officer Ray Gresko is joining as VP of product and development, and will be working closely with Epic Games as part of the companies’ ongoing collaboration. At Blizzard, Gresko co-led the development of Overwatch and Diablo 3, and also played a crucial role in the early development of Hearthstone. He joins former Ubisoft Massive technical lead Bjorn Tornqvist, who joined Disney Games as VP of games technology last Fall. Ong, Gresko, and Tornqvist will all report directly to Shoptaw.
“Under the leadership of Sean and Jay, Disney’s games business is perfectly positioned to deliver world-class storytelling in this medium,” says Disney Consumer Products president Tasia Filippatos. “We’re grateful to every member of the Disney Games team who has contributed to our success, and who will help shape the future of this industry through genre-defining entertainment.”
Disney has a number of major upcoming licensed titles in the pipeline, including the likes of Star Wars Outlaws, Marvel’s Wolverine, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and more.
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