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Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

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Re: Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

#341

Post by lotsofpulp »

bombcar wrote: post #331
lotsofpulp wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure what the exact cause is, but for some reason, they lose billions on streaming (page 24): https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/app/uploads/2023/11/Q4_FY23...

How much of this is real losses and how much is accounting tricks by licensing content from themselves?

I would guess none based on the breakdown on page 10. They would have written in the “Direct to consumer” section that licensing costs were the reason for the losses. Instead, they specified that technology costs and costs to create the media were the tradings for the losses.

Re: Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

#342

Post by kevinmchugh »

dorkwood wrote: post #124
vineyardmike wrote: post #8

Epic games has the potential to be the virtual Disney World - just available to everyone on the planet instead of those with enough money to visit a park IRL. Disney has a great flywheel where their IP drives content, toys, and experiences. This is just the latest experience, and it’s something they can’t build themselves. I bet you can expect more content on fortnite to be with Disney IP; skins, events, maps, everyt…

I see huge potential for NFT integration as well. Imagine buying a Mickey Mouse skin in Fortnight and being able to use it in one of Epic Games' other games too. Lots of possibilities.

This is basically just fortnite. When they wanted to make a racing game, they did it in fortnite. When they wanted a rhythm game, they did it in fortnite. Fortnite is a game browser and engine, not a set of mechanics.

Also if the intention is to limit the use of the property to epic games, why not use a plain old database? Nft seems like overkill

Re: Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

#343

Post by westurner »

westurner wrote: post #125
katabatic wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

StageCraft WAS Unreal Engine; it is not anymore.

StageCraft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StageCraft What is Helios? /? Helios StageCraft https://rebusfarm.net/news/ilm-stagecraft-a-virtual-producti... : > StageCraft leverages Helios ILM’s real-time cinema render engine. It is a set of LED screens that work as a 360 extension digital set, allowing filmmakers to explore new ideas, communicate concepts, and execute shots in a collaborative and flexible production en…

Apply [StageCraft (UE5),] computer graphics to STEM education.

A HUD-like [spinning ball trajectory] with observations and symbolic model fitting

Hopefully they will invest in Games that cause STEM (and SEL) learning;

And hopefully they will apply great CGI tools for STEM education

Re: Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

#344

Post by nirvdrum »

bombcar wrote: post #315
nirvdrum wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you take "for years" to literally mean "more than one year", sure. I think it's colloquially understood to be far longer than that. "Encanto" came out in 2021 and I'd consider that a hit. The soundtrack saw wide play, everyone I know who's seen it loves it, and they're merchandising the hell out of it. To be fair, I saw "Wish" with my family and we all enjoyed it, but it obviously didn't come close to "Frozen 2" n…

Encanto was fun but it didn’t merchandise the way Frozen did (nothing before or after has, to be fair). Keep an eye on the clearance aisles for a feel on how merchandising is going; wish is doing exceptionally bad.

I guess I don't know what we mean by "hit" then. I tried to address it from cultural impact, box office earnings, and movie quality. On any one of those criteria I don't think it's been that long since Disney has had a hit. If a film needs to push "Frozen" numbers to be a hit, then I'll concede they haven't had one in years.

Re: Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

#345

Post by westurner »

westurner wrote: post #125
katabatic wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

StageCraft WAS Unreal Engine; it is not anymore.

StageCraft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StageCraft What is Helios? /? Helios StageCraft https://rebusfarm.net/news/ilm-stagecraft-a-virtual-producti... : > StageCraft leverages Helios ILM’s real-time cinema render engine. It is a set of LED screens that work as a 360 extension digital set, allowing filmmakers to explore new ideas, communicate concepts, and execute shots in a collaborative and flexible production en…

> Is there a way to vary the [UE] AutoLOD for longer shots?

UE5 (and other 4d graphics and physics simulators) automatically reduce the LOD Level-of-Detail for objects in the distance.

Is that LOD parametric with StageCraft software?

(For example, reportedly Cities Skyline 2 is bad slow because they included meshes for characters' teeth and expected AutoLOD to just make it work on the computers kids tend to have. It doesn't work on reasonable machines because the devs all have fast pro GPUs to develop on, so they don't know what the UX is for the average family (that would be happy to turn down the polygon count themselves for what we can learn from the gameplay). Having game devs dogfood with real-world devices that families afford would be good for these firms too.).

Hopefully they'll continue to sell games through non-Epic stores that people have already invested in.

And hopefully, they'll make sure their products work with Proton and thus popular Linux-based handheld gaming devices.

Re: Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

#346

Post by caseysoftware »

mschuster91 wrote: post #294
caseysoftware wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the problem with that analysis, how do you attribute revenue to a specific movie? Will people attend the theme parks or spend more at them because of [movie X]? It's the same problem you have with streaming. Will people subscribe or stay subscribed to D+ longer because of [movie X]? Until you can answer one or both in a repeatable, predictable way, we can wave our hands and say "it makes money later!" or "it d…

> One other aspect that we CAN prove: streaming kills DVD sales. That's a revenue stream that is gone and won't be coming back so we have yet another deficit to fill. Which is why Disney+ is its own streaming service. Keeps all the eggs in the same basket.

So far, streaming hasn't made nearly the same amount as DVD sales and it's ridiculously expensive to run one.

That said, licensing to other streaming services often does work. You get revenue for the cost of a contract vs having the infrastructure costs and nebulous ROI. You get the added benefit of direct attribution because you can tell "we licensed [movie X] for $X for Y years".

Re: Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

#348

Post by [deleted] »

gamepsys wrote: post #51

Disney gets more IP in front of more 13-25 year olds. This is a very impressionable age group, and can create life long fans. This is a good value proposition for Disney. Epic probably gets an increase in valuation -- lifeblood for tech companies. Collaboration skins are massive for revenue. However, I'm concerned this relationship will force uncool collaborations with Fortnite and reduce it's appeal. Disney has had…

[deleted]

Re: Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

#349

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

pests wrote: post #64
tapoxi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disney has had access to it, there were a lot of Fortnite Avengers promotions. It obviously worked well enough for them to want to invest.

I've expected a Fortnite movie for awhile now. The current storyline would be perfect for someone like J.J with his histroy of mistique. Nit: It was all of Marvel not just Avengers and I think they did Star Wars too already.

I've played fortnite on an off since there were seasons. I have no idea what the storyline is, there are some cut scenes when there is a new season but it make no sense. Claiming there is a storyline is a stretch, I think it is just cover for changing up the map/gear to keep it fresh.

Re: Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

#350

Post by WorldMaker »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #184
tombert wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only played Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 on the Playstation 2 as a teenager, and I did enjoy them while playing, but I have to admit that I have absolutely no idea what the hell happened story-wise by the end of the second game. The story just got increasingly convoluted and harder to follow, and the juxtaposition of serious Final Fantasy characters and Disney characters never really stopped being funny to me.

100% agreed on the story. There’s a recap video that’s probably not too hard to find on youtube which takes 30 minutes to explain the story up to the start of KH3 and I remember a predictable amount of it. There’s also this gem: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fCWjSOSWiUw I only know enough about what “Aqua got ‘Norted” means to put an apostrophe in front of ‘Norted. (Xehanort possesses people or whatever.) I also litera…

Somewhere in the middle between the serious recap and the short joke remains this incredible video essay trying to explain the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwEwxKkCGJE
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