Disney is finding a new lease of life for its Mickey Mouse intellectual property with a mobile game and cartoon shorts series that will go head-to-head with the likes of Angry Birds and Talking Friends to win the hearts of children. The company will be targeting Android, iOS and Windows Phone. The latter being a perfect solution with the Kid's Corner, enabling parents to restrict what their children can access but offer Mickey Mouse content.
The mobile title will be called Where's My Mickey?, which is the latest instalment in Disney's series of "Where's My" video games. Launching in September 2011 and accumulating more than 100 million downloads in its first year, it's a popular form of entertainment. As noted above, Where's My Mickey will be launching on iOS, Android and Windows Phone simultaneously and will boast more than 100 puzzle levels spread across five chapters. The usual characters will be present, including Pluto and Goofy.
This is all setting up the stage for the new cartoon series, titled Mickey Mouse, which will debut on the Disney Channel on July 12th. Aiming at 6-14 year-old children, Disney will be targeting multiple regions with different cities featured (New York, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo and Venice). As one can see from the image and video in this article, Disney will be taking the cartoon back to its original 1930s roots. Disney will be attempting to challenge other companies who have licensed merchandise and popular IPs.
Angry Birds maker Rovio announced an expansion of its licensing deal with Hasbro to make toys and physical games based on the flying bird titles. It'll be interesting to see how Disney promotes its new series and how the games will be received on supported platforms. We'll update you all once the game is live on the Windows Phone Store.
Source: The Guardian; thanks, Graham, for the tip!
