Buena Vista Games to Self-Publish Video Games in Key European Territories

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 2005--Buena Vista Games (BVG), the global interactive entertainment arm of The Walt Disney Company, today announced that effective from Summer 2005, it will become a multi-platform publisher launching a portfolio of high profile video games in the UK, Germany and France. BVG will extend its current portfolio of kids- and family-focused titles to a wider audience, to include 'tween, teen and core gamers.

One of the first titles to launch is the highly anticipated action-adventure game based on the upcoming film by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," releasing Holiday 2005, followed by Disney's "Chicken Little," which is slated for all European territories beginning with France in November 2005. Both titles are for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, Xbox(R) video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube(TM), handheld and PC platforms.

There will be no change to existing publishing deals in place with THQ for Disney's presentation of a Pixar film "The Incredibles" and "Cars" on all platforms, or Capcom for "Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge" on PS2 and Xbox, and finally Square-Enix for "KINGDOM HEARTS II" on PS2.

"This is an exciting opportunity for BVG in Europe," said Thierry Braille, vice president and managing director of Europe, Buena Vista Games. "Our goal is to become a leading player in the global video game industry by providing compelling game experiences to the mass market on all major platforms by combining the wealth of IP that exists within The Walt Disney Company as well as the creation of new IP that we can leverage back into the rest of the organization."