Bob Iger’s new slogan must be, If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em.
A week after acquring Marvel, the Walt Disney Co. has bought up Wideload Games — the development studio behind the hit “Halo” — and hired its founder, Alex Seropian, to run creative for Disney Interactive.
He will take on the newly created role of vice president of creative.
Seropian, who created “Halo” while at Bungie Studios — now owned by Microsoft” — will coordinate production at all of the company’s internally owned videogame development studios.
“Alex has built his reputation around the power of original thinking," said Graham Hopper, general manager for Disney Interactive, in a statement. "In leading the studio that created ‘Halo,’ he helped turn great storytelling, exceptional design and polished gameplay into the ‘killer app’ for Xbox. Alex’s leadership of our creative community will enhance our ability to be a magnet for the best talent in the industry and enable the company to take an even more significant role in developing industry leading products.”
Chicago-based Wideload, whose last release was the 2008 “Hail to the Chimp,” currently is making a family console game scheduled for release next year, according to the statement. That game now will be branded a Disney game, and the company also will create titles for Disney.
Wideload Games president Tom Kang will continue to lead the studio as studio director. Wideload will stay in Chicago, but Seropian will move to Disney Interactive’s offices in Glendale.
