News

Disney virtual world gets a mobile game spin-off

Pixie Hollow giving users the butterflies

Disney virtual world gets a mobile game spin-off
|

One of the trends we're keen on following in the coming months is cross-platform gaming, and specifically the plans of PC-based massively multiplayer online games and web-based virtual worlds to launch mobile elements.

Yesterday's report on Blizzard Entertainment's mobile recruitment shows the activity in this area, but an article in the New York Times about Disney has also made us prick up our ears.

Apparently, the company plans to launch a mobile spin-off for its Pixie Hollow virtual world in the coming months. The world is aimed at young girls, and revolves around fairy avatars.

Now, it seems they'll be able to create butterfly pets for their avatars using a mobile game/application which will connect to the virtual world.

"I'm going to want to use my phone to feed and love my butterfly all the time," Disney's EVP for mobile content tells the newspaper. "That kind of emotional vesting is what we're after."

Now, the average Pocket Gamer reader probably isn't going to fall into Pixie Hollow's target demographic. But the fact that Disney is rolling out this kind of cross-platform gameplay will only encourage others to follow.

Stuart Dredge
Stuart Dredge
Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)