• Posted June 12th, 2007 by Eric Blattberg

Walt Disney Co. has been around for a long time, but only recently has it had any significant presence within the videogame industry.Expect that presence to get even larger, and soon. CEO of Walt Disney, Tom Staggs, has revealed that the company intends to increase their software development budget to $350 million USD per year.

“We are early on in the process of developing a video gaming capability... We are ramping up our investment in video games ... It is a market where there is real opportunity," said Staggs, speaking to journalists at a meeting in London.

The majority of the money will go to creating games based on established franchises, such as the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean MMO due at the end of the year. However, approximately 30% will go to creating new IP's. The targets of the games in question are "principally consoles and handhelds," says Staggs. We'll have more news on Disney's new titles when available.