Now that Disney has laid out its hands in terms of gaming announcements from D23, I have to say that I’m more than a bit disappointed. While most people were hyped leading up to D23 2024, most of that was due to the number of Disney and Marvel properties that were either being released this year, or were announced. While we got back-to-back to back announcements of upcoming movies, shows, and attractions, the gaming side of things left a lot to be desired. And unless you’re a fan of Fortnite, gaming was a bust when it came to this year’s D23.
And that to me is highly frustrating.
We have the upcoming open-world Star Wars game with Star Wars Outlaws being released at the end of this month. D23 would be a great time to get some more eyes, specifically those who aren’t glued to the gaming world, on this title. While Ubisoft had recently invited scores of gaming journalists, personalities, and content creators to play the game, that’s it. Unless you followed any of those outlets or persons, there’s no real marketing for the game, which is another sore topic for me.
What better way to go “Hey, we got this upcoming Star Wars game that we think you’ll like?” than showing fans some footage of the game. Or better yet, showing everyone something new that we haven’t seen yet. Maybe dropping a hint or two about characters who’ll be in the game that we didn’t know about. Now, that would have been freaking out of this world.
What about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle? We’ve seen nothing outside of the initial announcement. Again, D23 would have been a great place to have the face of the Indiana Jones series, none other than Harrison Ford, say something about the game. Or at the very least acknowledge it. Instead, we got nothing. In fact, we missed out on what could have been a great session of movies making the jump over to gaming, which would have been great for fans of all ages.
The same goes for the games that were announced not too long ago and are still in development, namely Marvel’s Blade or Marvel’s Wolverine, both of which would have literally torn the roof off the event. I can already see someone ready to tell me that neither of those games are ready to be shown, and they’re years away. Meanwhile, Disney revealed a number of properties that are in the same situation. None of those attractions will be ready in the next two to three years. Frozen 3 (get that damned song out of my head) is getting two features that won’t be in theaters until 2026 and 2027. Yet, there are already hundreds of articles and videos about them.
You know what would have been the pinnacle of gaming for D23 2024? Showing off more of Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. The game that’s being helmed by Amy Henning and is based on the comic book limited series of Captain America / Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers. You know the one where Captain America fights the Black Panther (T’Chanda), and then they join up to combat the Red Skull. The same game that was hinted back during D23 2022. Why not show everyone what’s happened since then.
Yeah, showing off that game would have been epic. But nope, that didn’t happen. To me this was a epic mistake.
Epic Mickey Rebrushed, Marvel Rivals, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Disney Pixel RPG, Disney Speedstorm, all ignored as well. Instead, what we got was was more Fortnite stuff. Sure, that’s cool and all, but I feel that Disney forgot that there are many other Disney and Marvel games that out there or being worked on. Not even mentioning then, let alone not showing them is a disrespect to those games and the people working on them, and more importantly, the gamers.
I’m also frustrated that the scores of content creators, outlets and various other people we count on to provide us with access to these events. Specifically the ones who have a focus on gaming, hasn’t once mentioned that this is a problem. hey, we’re looking at you for our gaming news and content, yet, not even a “Well, not talking about your games is a problem.” Disney has five games on the horizon, and not a single one was mentioned.
Say what you want, but if Disney wants to keep telling everyone that it cares about gaming and that it really wants to do more within the space. Then it needs to stop excluding it at its events, and understand that there’s more to gaming than Fortnite. While I understand that games are typically shown or revealed at gaming events, except the aforementioned games Disney and Marvel games and I thought D23 was the “Ultimate Disney Fan Event.”
So… maybe do better next time, Disney?
