Way back in 2004, a story surfaced (in an interview with IGN no less) that the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise exists because of a fateful, literal elevator pitch. And now, over two decades after that strange merger of Square Enix fantasy and Disney magic became a hit, Disney Games is hungry for more wild pitch moments like it.
I meet with the VP of Disney, Pixar, and 20th Century Games, Luigi Priore, at the most appropriate place for it: Disneyland. We’re at a preview event for Disney Illusion Island, nestled in a banquet room well-hidden within Tomorrowland, where Priore is clearly jubilant at the prospect of showing off the game at last. Disney Illusion Island has a look reminiscent of a slower-paced, more friendly Rayman game, with four-player co-op of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy in detailed animation that evokes, but does not copy, the classic Disney style. Not far away from our interview, there’s a brand new ride in Toontown that features similarly animated versions of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy getting up to cartoon shenanigans together.
Priore has been working with Disney’s video game efforts for 28 years, and currently oversees Disney, Pixar, and 20th Century games specifically – he’s a bit removed from Star Wars and Marvel. He’s been with the company for countless video game-related ups and downs, from the boom of licensed games through Epic Mickey, and through the six-year period where Disney seemed to vanish from games entirely. Priore has previously told me that Disney was simply strategically biding its time, and following the recent explosion of games like Disney Dreamlight Valley, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Tron: Identity, Disney: Speedstorm, Marvel Snap, and the upcoming Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, it’s a bit hard to argue with them.
Disney’s present-day approach to these numerous licensed partnerships, Priore says, is to seek developers (or, as Priore notes they are called internally, “storytellers”) who explicitly want to tell unique Disney stories. They’re not just looking to recreate films in game form.
“There was a time when there was the, ‘Watch the movie, play the game.’ Right? And it was fine,” he says. “We made some good products and we did some really good things back in the day and it was fine. This is different.”
Disney Would Totally Go For It
Unsurprisingly given the backdrop, Priore references Disney Illusion Island developer Dlala, which previously was working with Disney on an unannounced, licensed revival of one of Disney’s biggest IPs. While we have yet to learn what Dlala’s original project was, it had a number of similarities with Illusion Island. It was scrapped, along with a $3.5 million deal to get it made, when Disney backed out of games publishing in 2016. But some vestiges of Dlala’s vision have clearly remained, thanks to a team that seems hooked on telling a Disney story.
And that excitement for Disney specifically is what Priore wants to see more of.
“There are devs out there and they might think that, ‘Oh yeah, we’d never be able to do that. Disney wouldn’t go for that.’ Right? But it’s like, come in, let’s have a conversation. With the right partner and that dev team who have that vision we would have that conversation. It might not always be the right fit or the right time, but we want to find those partners. You never know. I mean, if we didn’t do that, even on Kingdom Hearts, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
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I ask if he’s referring to the old story of producer Shinji Hashimoto pitching Kingdom Hearts to a Disney executive in an elevator, and Priore seizes upon it.
“[Square Enix and Disney] used to be in the same building…and they’d talk about it. ‘Would you ever want to make a Disney game?’ And Nomura-san would say, ‘Ha ha.’ And then however many times they were there they’d go, ‘Hey, we got a proposal for you guys.’ And that’s where it started. So I think there are great creative people out there that have – Epic Mickey is another one. Warren [Spector] had that idea in his head, right? I mean, there was a concept from an intern team for Epic Mickey, but then he had always wanted to work on a Mickey game. And so we melded those two ideas together.”
Happily Looking Elsewhere
I spent several minutes trying to get Priore to drop hints about upcoming projects. Crossovers between Disney Dreamlight Valley and Disney Illusion Island? “Not a bad idea, but you never know. I can’t say.” Any games based on Pixar movies, after he mentioned a dearth of good pitches for those in our interview last year? He’s still asking for pitches. Any big Disney games showcase this year like the one at D23 last year? No comment.
He does seem to hint at other Mickey games down the line at one point, referencing the distinctive art style of Disney Illusion Island. “We may have a Mickey game or another Mickey execution someplace else, and we want to make sure when you look at Mickey from Disney Illusion Island you know that’s Disney Illusion Island. It is an interpretation.”
With Disney sufficiently back in the video game saddle, I ask Priore the same thing I asked him last year: any plans to resurrect internal studios at Disney? Last time, he deflected, but this time he flat-out tells me it’s not in the cards for now. There’s simply no need.
“I think we are having such success working with partners in this way, there isn’t any reason to do that, right? Our business is doing very well. We have great partners making lots of games. We have a slate that’s out three to five years.”
And he’s not interested in flooding the market with Disney stuff, either. “We’re not going to go out and put four more Mickey games out there.” Priore says he wants space for each Disney game to shine, especially given the amount of work that goes into making each one.
All Priore really wants to convey is that he wants developers to come pitch him their wildest ideas, whether in a formal meeting, in an elevator, or however. They can dig as deep into the Disney vault as they like.
“There’s stuff that is nostalgic for certain age ranges, and there’s stuff that’s old and there’s stuff that’s really old in the vault that you feel like you got to dust off, but it’s still really great characters and stories,” he says. “And then there’s newer stuff…but I just want someone to come out and say, ‘I’m a huge fan of this and I feel I have a story to tell, a game to tell.’…I’m not doing my job if I’m going out there saying, ‘You guys need to make a Toy Story game.’ I want someone to come and tell me what they want to do.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.