How Disney Games Are Shaping the Future of Disney Storytelling

Disney has spent generations finding new ways to bring audiences into its stories, from animated films and television to theme parks and immersive experiences. Now, the company is increasingly looking to video games as another way for fans to step inside those worlds and potentially discover Disney characters and franchises for the very first time.

What’s Happening:

For Disney Games, the goal isn't simply to turn existing movies and characters into playable experiences. Instead, Disney is increasingly focused on creating original interactive stories designed specifically for gaming, while using the medium to reach audiences who spend much of their time socializing, creating, and exploring online.
In a new look at the future of Disney Games, Sean Shoptaw, EVP of Global Games and Digital Entertainment, discussed how interactive entertainment is becoming an increasingly important part of Disney's broader storytelling strategy.
The business has already reached an impressive scale. In collaboration with its licensee partners, Disney Games has driven an estimated $3.5 billion in consumer spending annually over the past four years, surpassing $4 billion in the most recent fiscal year. The numbers demonstrate just how significant gaming has become within Disney's larger entertainment ecosystem.
Shoptaw sees that growth as an opportunity to push storytelling in directions that aren't possible in more traditional forms of entertainment.
“The way Disney is shaping the future of interactive entertainment through games is really acknowledging that games have become a foundational part of the broader entertainment landscape,” Shoptaw explained.
Rather than simply adapting a movie into a game, Disney wants games to become their own storytelling destinations. That approach has already helped establish a substantial portfolio of successful interactive franchises.
“We’ve built a really foundational footprint in games today,” Shoptaw said. He noted that the portfolio includes “nine games that have grossed over $1 billion at retail. So, it’s about telling truly original stories that really are unique to this medium, specifically.”
Among the billion-dollar franchises in the Disney Games portfolio are Kingdom Hearts and Marvel Strike Force, with more than half of those franchises having emerged within the last 12 years.

Disney is also continuing to build new gaming experiences around its biggest brands. Upcoming and recently announced projects include Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls and Marvel’s Wolverine, which is scheduled to arrive in September.
The strategy extends well beyond Marvel. Lucasfilm Games has developed experiences spanning more than 20 genres and platforms, demonstrating how Disney's entertainment properties can be explored through dramatically different types of gameplay.
Meanwhile, Disney and Pixar's mobile gaming portfolio has reached more than 1 billion installs since 2014. That portfolio includes games such as Disney Solitaire, Disney Tsum Tsum and Disney Magic Kingdoms, giving fans opportunities to interact with Disney characters and worlds on their phones and tablets.
For Disney, however, the importance of games isn't measured solely by downloads, sales or player counts.
Games have increasingly become social spaces, particularly for younger audiences. Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren't simply playing games; they're using gaming platforms to hang out with friends, express themselves and participate in communities.
“These are platforms where Gen Z [and] Gen Alpha primarily are spending a lot of their time, hanging out with their friends,” Shoptaw said.
One of the clearest examples is Marvel Rivals, which has attracted 40 million players worldwide, with 60% of its players under the age of 24.
The game's community extends far beyond the gameplay itself. Marvel Rivals has built a Discord community of more than 4.4 million members and generated more than 285 million hours of Twitch viewing in 2025, illustrating how a Disney-owned franchise can become a larger social entertainment experience.
That kind of engagement could be particularly important for Disney as the company looks to introduce its characters and stories to audiences who may encounter them first through interactive entertainment rather than a movie or television series.
Disney's relationship with Epic Games represents perhaps its biggest opportunity to explore that idea on an even larger scale.
Through its strategic relationship with Epic, Disney is working to create a persistent entertainment universe that brings together gaming, storytelling and creator expression.
“Our partnership with Epic is a really important one,” Shoptaw said. “What Epic has built with Fortnite has really created one of the most important social entertainment platforms in the world, and certainly for us, we see a ton of opportunity to bring our great characters, stories, and worlds into that universe and build something truly unique to Disney.”
The partnership reflects a broader shift in how audiences interact with entertainment. Characters no longer have to remain confined to a single movie, series, or game. Instead, they can move between different forms of media, allowing fans to interact with familiar worlds in new ways.
According to Disney, 84% of families say they enjoy seeing familiar characters move between games and video content, highlighting the potential for stories and characters to travel between platforms.
That interconnected approach could ultimately change the role games play within Disney's entertainment strategy. Rather than existing as an extension of a movie or television series, games can serve as their own entry point into a franchise, and potentially become the place where a new generation discovers a character for the first time.
For Shoptaw, the long-term vision goes beyond simply making successful games.
“Our ambition is to create something truly transformational,” he said. “A space that people can come play, watch, and create, and a space that we bring all of Disney together in one connected universe.”

As Disney continues expanding its presence in gaming, the company's next chapter may increasingly be shaped by experiences that aren't simply watched. They are played, shared, created, and lived by the fans themselves.

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