trooper
04-23-2008, 06:47 PM
When Disney Parks (I still hate that name for the division — could it be any less magical) wanted an online promotion as part of the world wide celebration of Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary, they paid Disney Online to set it up for them. Disney Online then went and licensed the software from Sulake Corporation to build the Virtual Magic Kingdom. I understand that Disney Online also did some additional programming work on top of what Sulake provided.
There have been some discussions recently that VMK is closing due to the original licensing agreement with Sulake coming to an end. Sulake did just sign an "exclusive agreement" with Paramount Studios to provide virtual worlds for their film properties. That may have had something to do with it, but I haven’t been able to confirm that one way or another.
So why kill VMK, especially when it would have been the ideal gateway for families to get hooked on Disney's new line of premium membership communities?
That's what I don't get. The site's public rationale is that the community was never supposed to last forever. It was just a Disneyland milestone promotion. That's hogwash. You don't spend years shoving codes in cereal boxes and selling cards and pins in the actual parks for virtual goodies that will be deemed worthless in a few weeks. More importantly, if you want consumers to devote time to the new communities, you're setting a terrible loyalty precedent by dismantling the one that started it all. Do you think any of the ex-VMK users will trust the new vibrant worlds Disney creates if they know they can all vanish under the guise of an anniversary promotion?
There have been some discussions recently that VMK is closing due to the original licensing agreement with Sulake coming to an end. Sulake did just sign an "exclusive agreement" with Paramount Studios to provide virtual worlds for their film properties. That may have had something to do with it, but I haven’t been able to confirm that one way or another.
So why kill VMK, especially when it would have been the ideal gateway for families to get hooked on Disney's new line of premium membership communities?
That's what I don't get. The site's public rationale is that the community was never supposed to last forever. It was just a Disneyland milestone promotion. That's hogwash. You don't spend years shoving codes in cereal boxes and selling cards and pins in the actual parks for virtual goodies that will be deemed worthless in a few weeks. More importantly, if you want consumers to devote time to the new communities, you're setting a terrible loyalty precedent by dismantling the one that started it all. Do you think any of the ex-VMK users will trust the new vibrant worlds Disney creates if they know they can all vanish under the guise of an anniversary promotion?