Pirates of the Caribbean virtual world getting mobile spin-off

Forbes magazine has a long article about Disney's current mobile strategy, and there's an intriguing nugget about its mobile game plans.

According to the piece, this autumn Disney will release a mobile game based on its Pirates of the Caribbean Online virtual world.

The game will involve playing short battles and earning virtual coins to be spent in the online version.

It'll be one of the first times a virtual world or MMO has launched this kind of spin-off. It appears to be the first fruits of the recent merging of Disney's virtual worlds and interactive entertainment divisions.

Meanwhile, Disney is also planning to launch a mobile game called Fairy Friend, in which players look after a butterfly fairy. This, too, will be linked with a virtual world: Disney Fairies.

These kind of cross-platform activities have been talked about for years now, so it's good to see Disney actually delivering on the promise.

How popular these games will be in the UK is another matter, though there are fairly strict rules here about marketing mobile content (or indeed mobile technology) to children.