Let's talk about the corporate world for way too long!

Fast times at Disney high

You know, there I was just minding my own business, downloading all 61gb of X-Com 2 + War of the Chosen (Why is that download so large?) when I saw something both unexpected and wild hop along my news thread. (And I can't just not talk about this!) So I sat back and thought "Ohh... another surprise exit from an important industry role that's sure to have ripple effects around the entertainment industry. My favourite!" The only problem with this particular story is the fact that it isn't strictly related to the world of Video Games and thus I don't have quite a clear-cut incentive to discuss it, however the fellow in question did head-up one of the, if not the, biggest entertainment companies in the world, so perhaps it's fair to presume this may have a blowback on my favourite pastime. The company in question, Disney, and the man who recently announced his stepping down effective immediately; it's (now former) CEO, Bob Iger.

Now, there's a chance that you've never heard of Bob Iger, but if that's the case then it can only be because you pay literally no attention to the movie entertainment world. Personally, I spend a lot more attention to that part of the world then I really should for someone who only averages roughly one movie a year. (And I just watched 'Uncut Gems', so I'm already tapped out for 2020.) The reason why I keep up so vigorously is anyone's guess, but I will say that it is fascinating to see how practically any trend in the film industry can be traced back to Disney and/or Bob himself. And is that really any surprise? Disney have been absolute megalomaniacs in the entertainment industry, expanding voraciously and buying up any and all potential opportunities they find along the way. In the movie market alone they managed to supplant every other studio to become the most influential film maker in the world with their nurturing of Marvel Studios, and after their purchase of Star Wars they now can boast ownership of the second and first most profitable movie franchises of all time.

All that growth and expansion was done within the last 15 years, which coincides with the amount of time that Bob Iger has sat as CEO for the Disney Empire until very recently. (Okay, technically he's contracted to sit the board and guide things until December 2021, but he's out from making key decisions effective immediately.) In terms of how this has effected the gaming world, Disney has all but entirely retreated from the gaming market during Iger's turn to bat. As gaming as steadily marched towards becoming the most profitable entertainment medium on the planet, Disney has steadily started to have less and less to do with it until they straight up downsized their studio to little more than a licensee. Nowadays, Disney exists in the gaming world purely vicariously through efforts like the 'Kingdom Hearts series' and that EA-'Star Wars' deal.

When asked about why that was, Iger reportedly claimed that Disney was never really that good at the video game market, and that their efforts were better spent on the mediums they had already mastered. Personally, I thought such sentiments betrayed an incredible lack of bravery from a company that rakes in enough profits to easily write off even the most deadly video game flops of all time, as well as a blatant disregard for history, given the old school Disney game titles that are beloved by old school gamers. Be that as it may, Bob still wanted nothing to do with gaming and displayed as much in the harshest possible way when Disney acquired Star Wars only to immediately gut 'Lucas Arts' (Maybe it's a little cruel to attribute that directly to Bob Iger, but thus is the responsibility of a CEO. Vicarious liability.)

But all that is in the past now because Iger shocked the world, and Disney's share prices, when he announced his stepping down yesterday. Now all the responsibilities and trials will fall to one of the many other Bob clones that Iger has kept around the office; Bob Chapek, so one can only imagine what sort of changes we are in for. In terms of individual projects, perhaps things won't be too drastically different. Marvel Studios still summons money from the dark pits of hell so we can expect them to remain unscathed, but maybe there will be some sweeping changes given to the direction the company decides to expand. (Could this mean a resurgence in the gaming market? Will I still continue to hope for such even if all the evidence points otherwise? Unlikely and yes.)

Immediately when hearing about Bob Chapek taking the role of Disney CEO, one might find themselves wondering exactly who this 'Bob' fellow is, and how he's different to the flavour of 'Bob' to which we are accustomed. Quite simply, Bob Chapek (Whom I shall henceforth refer to as 'Beta Bob') is the fellow who has, until recently, been directly in charge of running that most beloved of Walt Disney's legacies; The Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Yep, this is the guy you can blame for slowly driving up the prices of DisneyLand in order to keep your poor-ass out, ol' Beta Bob himself. Bob also served as head of Disney Consumer Products, which is a role I know less about on an anecdotal level, but I'm sure there's just as much scum-mery happening behind the scenes there too.

Does this bode badly for Disney's future? Not really. The man can make money, and that is all that's really important to Disney right now. I mean don't get me wrong, Disney ain't exactly hurting for money, but I'm sure that the board of directors do suffer some sleepless nights when realising that they're only making most of the money when they could be making all of the money; and perhaps Beta Bob is the one to finally bridge that gap for them. No, the real reason why we should all be quaking in our boots about the Beta Bob's CEO appointment is due to the direction of his success, which has been pointed towards China for quite a while now.

Chapek is renowned for his shaping of the parks and products of Disney to better meet the wants and budget of the wider Chinese populace, and now that he's in charge of the entirety of Disney we can only expect that favouritism to get worse. Disney has already attempted to devote itself to the Middle Kingdom for some time now with varied to incredibly poor success, (at least in terms of movies. Which are the only terms that I recognise outside of games.) so this wouldn't even be that drastic of a shift for The House of Mouse. So what does that mean for the world of gaming... well, it's not too hopeful. You see, China may have the largest gaming populace in the world, but their gaming scene is laboured by two crippling disadvantages; firstly, the majority of their gamers primarily play mobile games (You could argue that 'disadvantage' is more of a matter of taste, but I don't have the energy to explain why you're wrong right now) and secondly, there's this little thing China has called an Authoritarian Government.

I've mentioned it before but it bears repeating: the Chinese government is one of the worst potential influences that the world of gaming could hope to ask for. As with any industry that touches China, gaming is subject to strict censorship whenever it comes into contact with China and thus regularly has to submit to ridiculously draconian stipulations. Some of the most ridiculous being the removal of all supernatural themes and elements from a fictional story, (For fear of 'disrespecting the dead') no depictions of death of any sort, including cosmetic skeletons (for the same reason) and, on some occasions, the removal of violence altogether. (For fear of giving their populace ideas of how to otherthrow their oppressors, I presume.) We've already seen examples of these rules leaking out of China and making a mark on the rest of the world, such as with Blizzard last year and even Ubisoft's 'Rainbow Six: Siege' debacle some years before that.

Although it's hard to imagine what sort of direct effect there would be for the gaming world if Disney were to hop into bed with China, you must remember that they do hold the licenses to two of the biggest brands in the world right now and they do like to have tight control over the perception of their brand. When 'Star Wars Battlefront 2' was publicly exposed for it's avaricious issues not too long into it's launch period, rumours spawned that Bob Iger himself called up the head of EA in order to demand him to get the situation sorted, before the Star Wars brand was seriously hurt. Of course, much of the damage to the Star Wars brand would then be done by Disney themselves through their 'meh' movies, but that anecdote still goes to show you how seriously the company takes their licenses. Could it be fair to assume, then, that if Beta Bob starts running things it'll only be a matter of time until EA, Square Enix, or whoever else holds a Disney license starts receiving directives to dance to the Chinese Governments tune?

Now I know I'm just being apocalyptic, as usual; but you should know by now that I subscribe to the tried and true adage; "The pessimist is the optimist's realist". Nothing is going to change overnight (Besides from Disney's plummeting stock prices) and it probably isn't fair to judge Beta Bill's reign from the day that it starts; however it never hurts to prepare oneself for the inevitable. (Not that I know what one would actually do in preparation for Disney going fully pro-China. Burn your electronic Mickey Mouse memorabilia before it gets retro-fitted into spy-ware?) Whatever happens then, we still have the here-and-now to enjoy what Disney has to offer. So we can place aside future fears and just be excited for the coming year of cool stuff, like that new Star Wars initiative which I hear is going to finally focus on the Old Republic! Wait... What the hell 'The High Republic' and why does it sound like a 90's stoner parody?