Disney will initially pay $563.2 million for Playdom, which is the No. 3 social gaming company on Facebook with about 42 million active players every month. The deal includes $200 million in additional payments should Playdom achieve unspecified growth thresholds.Disney, along with all of the entertainment giants, invested heavily in video game development during the late 90s and early 00s but suffered heavy losses and got out almost as quickly as they had gone in. Gaming is a notoriously unprofitable business and Disney Interactive Media Group is still in the red quarter after quarter.
But unlike their haphazard stabs at relevancy in the past (Go.com, anyone?), Disney's current moves into the sector at least seem deliberate and part of a larger strategy. But the games business is fickle, so who knows if it'll pay off.