Disney Buys Wideload Games, Lands Bungie Founder

Disney seems to be on a spending spree these days, picking up Marvel late last month and today buying Wideload Games.

https://lastchance.cc/disney-buys-marvel-for-4-billion-5349341%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

As part of Disney Interactive Studios‘ purchase of Wideload Games, Wideload and Bungie founder Alexander Seropian, will join Disney Interactive as the vice president of creative.

In his new role, Seropian will report to Global Product Development Senior Vice President Jean-Marcel Nicolai, and be tasked with overseeing creative development across Disney Interactive Studios’ portfolio of video games.

“Wideload Games is among the premier small creative game development studios in the world. Wideload Games will be a great fit for our portfolio of internal studios, and Alex joining the global product development team provides the entire Disney game portfolio with a strong creative influence,” said Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager, Disney Interactive Studios, in a prepared statement. “Alex has built his reputation around the power of original thinking. 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.”

In 2000, Seropian negotiated the acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft and then in 2003 he founded Wideload Games.

“Joining Disney is an ideal next step, both for our studio and me,” Seropian said. “At Wideload, we’ve conscientiously built a forward-looking approach to game development that borrows many techniques from the film industry. Now, Wideload will be a part of one of the largest, most respected entertainment companies in the world. I’m looking forward to Wideload’s continued success as a part of Disney and I’m eager to bring all my experience to the creative community at Disney Interactive Studios.”

Under Disney, Wideload will develop original video game properties, according to the press release.