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Report: Disney wants to buy UTV/Ignition for $454M

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jul 27th 2011 12:03PM

The Walt Disney Company is allegedly working to fully acquire UTV, parent company of Ignition Entertainment, for $454 million. Develop reports that Disney, which already owns 50.4 percent of UTV, is seeking to fully acquire the company for its Bollywood films and TV shows -- and not for its games. If the deal does happen, Ignition's fate would be in the hands of Disney.

Ignition has been troubled for quite some time, altering its business strategy last year and ceasing to develop core games internally. Disney's strategy, on the other hand, has seen the shuttering of its core game studios like Black Rock and Propaganda, and a heavy emphasis on the social space. Disney's acquisition of UTV may have nothing to do with games on the surface, but it'll likely impact Ignition in a dramatic way.

Source: Develop

Tags: acquisition, business, Disney, Disney-Interactive, disney-interactive-studios, el-shaddai, El-Shaddai-Ascension-of-the-Metatron, ignition-entertainment, UTV, UTV-Ignition, utv-ignition-games

Reader Comments (39)

Wonder how this will effect DeathSpank

@koehler83 considering DeathSpank is published by EA and developed by Hothead Games, i dont think this will have any effect at all on DeathSpank

@phatman516

You are correct, I was thinking Swarm.

Quality journalism, Joystiq, considering a local analyst said to Reuters, "Walt Disney has always been interested in most of UTV's business, especially the gaming part."

@bradphillips204

Joystiq's point stands though, Disney has been gutting their internal game development studios. Ignition isn't known for their "casual" games and it certainly causes me to have a lot of doubt about Ignition's future if this deal goes through.

@bradphillips204

That's probably the last thing Black Rock heard before they got "The Dip."

@baby sea tuna
Much like the toons in ROGER RABBIT, BlackRock Studios didn't deserve the dip. :(

And man, that was easily Christopher Lloyd's creepiest role I've personally seen him in.

@Courtney
Ignition (if I'm correct) has no game development studios left and only serves as a publisher now. Disney looks to mainly be a publisher in core games now, I am also sad to see Black Rock and Propaganda go, and I'll never forgive Disney for closing two very great studios. However, Ignition's upcoming games, including Planet Crashers, Mercury Meltdown, Quarrel, and Sky Legends all seem casual to me, and I believe they would fit into Disney's game publishing nicely.

Source of games: http://us.utvignition.com/

This sucks! After what Disney did to Black Rock, I'm fearful for Ignition. I hope my fears are unfounded, but companies like UTV are becoming scarcer and scarcer. Next thing you know, Activision will buy XSeed and EA will buy Index Holdings, which is the current owner of Atlus.

@Tradio You are correct, good sir!

Hope Shane Bettenhoweveryouspellhislastnamehausen comes out of this alright. I miss him on 1Up podcasts. Always seemed like the one gaming journalist I generally agreed with.

@lonecow

I NEVER agreed with him, but miss him very much nonetheless.

Here we go (again) say it in a Mario voice.

No matter what happens I still won't get a turok 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs67ucoqD10

http://www.amazon.com/Turok-2-Seeds-Evil-Nintendo-64/dp/B00000DMB5

Yes, I know what you meant.

Well, time to watch: "Who framed Roger Rabbit" once again....brilliant movie, even with todays standarts I think.

@Kiichi
I watched it again about an year ago and... it's totally worth it!

REMEMBER ME EDDIE?
WHEN I KILLED YOUR BROTHER
I TALKED
JUST!!
LIKE!!!
THIS!!!!!

@OnToGloryReturns
That scene was creepy to me when I was a kid

@TheShaper

It's still creepy

@343 Guilty Fart
I a way it is even more creepy to me now, as I have a better understanding of what is happening....that Dip is a cruel way to die. What he did to those shoes still makes me angry.

Last time I watched the movie (about a year ago), that bloody Judge still appeared in my dreams....and not in a good way.

@OnToGloryReturns

I still want a d@mn Roger Rabbit expansion for L.A. Noire...

*Disney cancels El Shaddai a week before its release*

@KungFuChaosNinja
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Oh good. They already screwed BlackRock. They should totally buy another studio to destroy.

@greyseal
WE DID THIS FOR THE GREATER GOOD, MY FRIENDS. YOU MAY NOW LEAVE YOUR SHACKLES... you know... those ones that helped you feed your family... :'( DISNEY IS PERFECT

I hope the people at ignition entertainment are getting ready to search for a new job because closing studio is popular right now with big corporation.

This is kind of depressing. Ignition has been really great about bringing over awesome Japanese titles (Deadly Premonition and Muramasa chief amongst them) and I doubt that's going to fit into any sort of strategy that Disney will have.

....and shut it down?

is disney trying to destroy the gaming industry by purshasing and closing studios??

better than nothing for now.

Goobye, Ignition.

@Fuzunga

Its the remix addition, hot and fresh out the kitchen. Disney's rolln' and drawln' putting companies out of commission.

How about Disney make sure they can handle their own studios before buying stable companies?

@The Only Girl
Disney cannot handle their own studios, and Ignition is not stable, they shut down all their own studios as well.

Disney needs to put Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Blu Ray.

I love the shit out of that movie, and if it weren't for the pic, I probably wouldn't have click on this article.

Why would they buy a company that is facing layoffs just like the ones they implemented in the studios they just owned? What is Disney doing here?

They have the money to license out their properties to various studios. Just do that!

@Lerkero
Disney is buying them now because Ignition is just a publisher with no game studios left. UTV Ignition is owned by one of the largest Indian entertainment companies, one with a large presence in Bollywood. That is what Disney wants, it's film studio, television studio, television network, and animation business. India is the third largest economy in Asia with growing incomes and people buying more and more entertainment. Disney wants that, UTV Ignition is just one slice of the whole pie.

Ignition is done. Sad but true.

Breaking News

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

Report: Disney wants to buy UTV/Ignition for $454M

Reader Comments (39)

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:06PM koehler83 said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:16PM phatman516 said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:35PM koehler83 said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:12PM bradphillips204 said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:05PM Courtney said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:09PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 2:38PM foxhound said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 10:24AM bradphillips204 said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:14PM FinalFantasyXIIIsucks said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:14PM FinalFantasyXIIIsucks said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:19PM lonecow said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:00PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:19PM byaboy said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:20PM Jawmuncher said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:10PM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:32PM Kiichi said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:59PM TheShaper said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:43PM OnToGloryReturns said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:58PM TheShaper said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:46PM 343 Guilty Fart said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 7:43PM Kiichi said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 8:50PM ShadowXIII said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:44PM KungFuChaosNinja said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 4:26PM laser beams said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:49PM greyseal said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:52PM darkinchworm said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 12:50PM bargaingamer said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:01PM MatthewBlackwell said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:20PM CaptainProtonX said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:43PM RevolverShot said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:56PM Fire Walk With Me said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 1:56PM Fuzunga said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 3:00PM jph89 said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 2:37PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 10:29AM bradphillips204 said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 3:56PM McDude said

Posted: Jul 27th 2011 8:51PM Lerkero said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 10:29AM bradphillips204 said

Posted: Jul 28th 2011 12:15AM type2red said

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