After seeing its Interactive Media division post losses of $234 million for the fiscal year, Disney has decided to switch targets on the gaming front.

The entertainment conglomerate is spreading its wings by attempting to capitalise on the rising popularity of casual, social, and mobile games.

One clear signal of this shift in focus by Disney from the boxed game business to the digital market came via its $763.2 million purchase of social gaming publisher Playdom back in July.

This deal followed on from the former's acquisition of iPhone game developer Tapulous, responsible for the ultra-successful Tap Tap Revenge series.

Call to arms

Disney CEO Bob Iger explained his company’s changing allegiance during a call to investors: "On the games front, we’ve seen a pretty big shift in games from console to what I’ll call multiplatform, everything from mobile apps to social networking games.

"By putting John Pleasants in to run games, not only will be the focus on turning those businesses into profitability, but diversifying our presence in the business."

He also added: "With the acquisition of Playdom and of Tapulous, we now have a diversified multi-faceted game business that can deliver the full range of experiences consumers want, and that allows us to continue innovating to meet their expectations."

It’ll be interesting to see what the newly appointed head of games division at Disney, and former CEO of Playdom, John Pleasants, not to mention Tapulous' Bart Decrem, have up their sleeves in the coming months.

[source: Seeking Alpha]