Disney intends to sell off the video games division of the newly acquired Fox, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
FoxNext, established in 2017 and acquired as part of Disney’s $71 billion purchase of Fox, makes free-to-play mobile games using licensed entertainment IP, most notably “Marvel Strike Force,” a hit that has made more than $150 million since its launch last year.
According to Bloomberg, senior company leadership considered retaining the division, but Disney CEO Bob Iger ultimately decided against doing so. No timetable for selling FoxNext was given. Representatives for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.
Disney used to make original video games through its Disney Interactive division, but the company ended all in-house development in 2016, cancelling all of its current games, including the “Disney Infinity” series, and shutting down Avalanche Software, the subsidiary that made “Disney Infinity.” Avalanche was subsequently sold to Warner Bros., which reopened the company in January 2017.
The decision not to keep FoxNext is not especially surprising. In February, during the company’s quarterly earnings call, Iger said: “We’re obviously mindful of the size of that business but over the years we’ve tried our hand at self-publishing.”
He added: “We’ve found that we haven’t been particularly good at the self-publishing side.”