View Full Version : "Disney magic": The art of learning from the wrong people


LordIllidan
05-04-2008, 06:26 AM
Warning: Extremely radical views are about to be expressed.

Let's start this off with a question:

Have you ever seen The Corporation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation) before? It's a rather good documentary, in which they compare the actions of most American Corporations to that of a derranged phychopath: "callous unconcern for the feelings of others, incapacity to maintain enduring relationships,... deceitfulness (repeated lying to and deceiving of others for profit), incapacity to experience guilt and failure to conform to the social norms"

For some reason, that's not what I want to think about when I think about Disney. So, why is this exactly what they're doing?

Callous unconcern for the feeling of others: "Oh, you likes them VMKs? Oh, you have... friends? Oh, we've given you inspiration? Well, you see little child, those things don't make us money. So we're just going to take that from you like taking candy from a baby, okay? What's that? You don't like it? Awww, that's cute. Keep pretending that we care."

Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships: "Welcome, everyone, to the Virtual Magic Kingdom. Please, enjoy this wonderful land we've given you, and I'm sure we'll be great friends and you'll buy all our stuff. Even after we suddenly snatch what we've given back three years later"

Decietfulness in the name of profit: "VMK will be around for quite a bit longer. Oh, nevermind... Well, it was just a promotion anyway. Our next games will be a bajillion times better, though!"

Incapacity to experience guilt: "Say bye-bye to VMK! Trust me, it's a good thing for us! We're going to be making money! Oh, by us, I mean Disney, of course. You're getting nothing out of this. But that's okay! At least I'm happy!"

Failure to conform to social norms: "Oh, look! Letters from our fans! I should probably read them... nah. Guess they're former fans now! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!"

Disney used to be an inspiration for people of all ages, a magical group of people who wanted to spread joy to the world.

Now look at them. "That's what it's all about, right? Money."

They're closing VMK because some number cruncher sitting in a windowless office all day said that "This number will have more zeroes at the end if these servers were being used for this, and these players were over here." And, of course, the Corporation, being the mentally handicapped being it is, doesn't take into account that people aren't statistics.

"VMK was free, anyway!" many people shout out. Yes, it was. And, you know what? It's been proven time and again, that, if you give something out for free, it actually makes more people buy your products. Let's look at some examples:


"Gamer Theory" by McKenzie Wark was originally released online IN FULL for free. I can't find an exact statistic, but quite a few people still bought the physical, hardcover version AFTER READING THE FREE ONE anyway. Why? They wanted to support the author who was kind enough to provide such a high-quality product for absolutely nothing.
Nine Inch Nails recently released the first nine tracks of their album "Ghosts I-IV" for FREE, along with a large amount of goodies. They also had the full version of the album up for only $5. They also had several, more expensive versions of the album, but most of that extra stuff was trivial, unimportant things. From Wikipedia: "A week after the album's release, the official Nine Inch Nails site reported over 750,000 purchase and download transactions, amassing over US$1.6 million in sales. Pre-orders of the $300 "Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition" sold out in less than three days of its release.
." Also of note was that Ghosts I-IV was DRM Free, meaning that there was nothing stoping you from copying the CD and distributing it yourself
Radiohead's album, "In Rainbows" From Wikipedia: "Radiohead's seventh album, In Rainbows, was released in October 2007 as a digital download for which customers chose their own price (That includes for free, my friends!). Although it was reported that 1.2 million digital downloads were sold by the day of the album's release, the band's management did not release official sales figures, claiming that the Internet-only distribution was intended to boost sales of the physical album. (Hmmmm... sound familiar?)Yet according to Yorke, Radiohead's profits from the digital download of In Rainbows outstripped combined profits from digital downloads of all of the band's other studio albums."


There you have it. Three high-quality examples of free high-quality stuff making money. They can do it, Disney, so why can't you?

mktourist
05-04-2008, 03:12 PM
I agree with much of what you say. To a large extent their position comes off as arrogance. They are taking their dedicated consumer base for granted and assuming that because it has the Disney Brand that they will settle for mediocrity and inferior products because they have nowhere else to go. They are mistaken. For a long time most of the areas that they controlled were ceded to them by the competition. This is no longer the case. Companies like Dreamworks and Pixar started putting out products that were able to compete effectively in the markets that they once dominated. Yes, they still control most of them but inroads have been made just the same. To keep up with the competition they have reduced their quality standards and rushed products out to market prematurely to maintain market share. In doing so, instead of building timeless classical enduring products they are creating some products that are destined for the bargain bin a year after production. Which will make them the same as their competitors and leveling the playing field. If you look at most of their recent movie successes they are Pixar products. Some of these do have potential to be classics. They will probably not achieve that status though because there will be a strong temptation to cash in on the previous success and make sequels. This is sheer laziness, pure and simple. I'm sorry, but by the time Toy Story 5 comes out there will be less appreciation for the original product.

If you look at the early years of Disney you will not see sequels to anything that we've come to know and love as the classics. Walt knew that tastes varied and that over time interests changed. But he also realized that there were wholesome family values embedded in those classics. The triumph of good over evil and overcoming adversity to fulfill your dreams are just two of those concepts. The adults of today understand and grew up with those themes. They recognize their value and want to share them with their children and grandchildren. Walt's answer to that was to put them in a vault after they had run their course. Wait a generation and re-release them to the theaters for succeeding generations to enjoy with their parents and grandparents. Video and DVD changed this plan somewhat because Disney management determined that they could cash in on home sales of those products. Since the audience owns most of the classics they profited initially but lost a dependable revenue stream. So now they try to resell the same product over and over by touting improvements over the original, digitally enhanced or dolby surround sound. I guess the next will be re-release in 3 D versions. This all goes to demonstrate that they are motivated by short term profit as opposed to long term viability.

This, for lack of better words, is their logic and reasoning. They have adapted that strategy to the internet as well. They do not comprehend the unprecedented growth potential of this industry. They are moving from a long established industry where they were the leader and innovator and have stepped into a world where they already lag behind. Their short term fix is to buy up certain games in the hopes that they will be able to convert the audience to their products later on. Because they've come to the game late they are trying to catch up. One stopgap method was to test the market by licensing and collaboration. VMK is an example of that. They did not however have the foresight to include an exit strategy in that collaborative agreement. Since they chose to spend 700 million to buy a potential audience for their products rather than build their own, they are now in the position that it is likely cost prohibitive to secure the rights to VMK. This was not a failure of the game it was the failure of the management team to recognize its potential. Their competitors are out there in this market as well and in many ways are ahead of Disney in the process. They are building a better mousetrap and if Disney is not careful they will find themselves ensnared in it. Pardon the pun.

LordIllidan
05-04-2008, 06:50 PM
Exactly.

Disney used to be about art, about expression. You can see it in their cartoons, in the small details they painstakingly put into their rides, and in the stories they used to weave. Yes, their shareholders were still important to them, but that was more of a side goal.

In recent days, that seems to have flipped around. They still occasionally put out something amazing (VMK, for example), but the corporate suits in charge do their best to exploit these masterpieces, old and new, to rake in as much green as they can. Sometimes these exploits give birth to something amazing (Kingdom Hearts, for example.) Sometimes not so much (Pretty much any Direct-to-DVD movie they've ever released).

And, now, what are they doing? They've exploited VMK as much as the numbers say they can (Although numbers sometimes only tell half-truths), and now they're getting rid of it. I've questioned some of their business moves in the past, but this was honestly the straw that broke the camel's back.

BootstrapGirl
05-05-2008, 12:48 AM
Warning: Extremely radical views are about to be expressed.


Callous unconcern for the feeling of others: "Oh, you likes them VMKs? Oh, you have... friends? Oh, we've given you inspiration? Well, you see little child, those things don't make us money. So we're just going to take that from you like taking candy from a baby, okay? What's that? You don't like it? Awww, that's cute. Keep pretending that we care."

Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships: "Welcome, everyone, to the Virtual Magic Kingdom. Please, enjoy this wonderful land we've given you, and I'm sure we'll be great friends and you'll buy all our stuff. Even after we suddenly snatch what we've given back three years later"

Decietfulness in the name of profit: "VMK will be around for quite a bit longer. Oh, nevermind... Well, it was just a promotion anyway. Our next games will be a bajillion times better, though!"

Incapacity to experience guilt: "Say bye-bye to VMK! Trust me, it's a good thing for us! We're going to be making money! Oh, by us, I mean Disney, of course. You're getting nothing out of this. But that's okay! At least I'm happy!"

Failure to conform to social norms: "Oh, look! Letters from our fans! I should probably read them... nah. Guess they're former fans now! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!"



:lachen70: Haha, that was so true yet so funny!