Videogames a "creative engine" - Disney CEO

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that he regards videogames as "another promising creative engine" for the company.

Iger is quoted in today's New York Post telling investors that he intends to use a multi-platform approach, similar to Disney's recent music strategy, to push the company's game sales.

"We intend to use it to do exactly what we did in the music business to our video games business, but on a much larger scale," he said.

Tie-ins with popular movie and TV series, such as High School Musical, have seen Disney's music division produce USD 100 million in income. Disney has just launched a High School Musical game.

"We are a publishing company on the outside of the video games business," admitted Iger. "But where they [other companies] may not have a cable channel, or a movie company, or even a record business, or a radio business, or online - we have all of those. We intend to use them fully."

Iger said the company's intention was to focus on games it develops itself. It has increased spending on game development from USD 100 million in 2006 to a projected USD 175 million in 2008.

In July of this year, Disney announced that it had acquired the UK's Climax Racing Studio, and Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios.