Author: dpugh007

Disney was very close to acquiring social media giant Twitter, but the company pulled out at the 11th hour because CEO Bob Iger had a number of particular misgivings.

Writing in his new book, Iger said Disney originally wanted to buy Twitter to help “modernize its distribution,” according to The New York Times. However, Iger ended up calling Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey “at the last minute” to tell him the deal was off, which reportedly stunned Dorsey.

Iger said Twitter was experiencing “troubles” that were too much for Disney to absorb. He also personally reflected that the Twitter user experience, for him, was anything but pleasant.

“The troubles were greater than I wanted to take on, greater than I thought it was responsible for us to take on,” Iger said. “There were Disney brand issues, the whole impact of technology on society. The nastiness is extraordinary. I like looking at my Twitter newsfeed because I want to follow 15, 20 different subjects.

“Then you turn and look at your notifications and you’re immediately saying, why am I doing this? Why do I endure this pain? Like a lot of these platforms, they have the ability to do a lot of good in our world. They also have an ability to do a lot of bad. I didn’t want to take that on.”

The full New York Times interview with Iger is incredibly fascinating; go read it here.

While the Twitter buyout didn’t work out, Iger has overseen four epic-sized acquisitions during his time at Disney. These included the buyout of Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and finally Fox. When Disney bought Star Wars, Iger recalled that Fox boss Rupert Murdoch “was crazed” because Fox already had an in-road with Star Wars as the distributor of George Lucas’ Star Wars films.

“Rupert was crazed that we bought Lucas,” Iger said. “They were the distributor of all of George’s movies, and he was very disappointed in his people. ‘Why didn’t you think of this?’” Iger said.

Disney’s next big movie is Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which hits theatres in December. It wraps up decades worth of storytelling, bringing an end to the Skywalker Saga that began in 1977.

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It appears Batman: Arkham Origins developer WB Games Montreal is teasing its new game. The studio tweeted today, September 22, for the first time in more than four years, with what looks to be a cryptic teaser for a new project.

The tweet celebrates the 80th anniversary of Batman’s first comic book appearance back in 1939 with a video that shows the Bat-Signal projected onto a building. But there is more to it. The video also contains flashes, at :03 and :21, of mysterious symbols that you can see below.

People are speculating that at least one of the symbols is in reference to the secret society, the Court of Owls, that exists in the Batman universe. Intriguingly, a WB Games Montreal developer tweeted in November 2018 a picture of a developer wearing a t-shirt with owl imagery on it. The tweet appears to be in reference to an upcoming, unannounced project.

More evidence for the Court of Owls connection came from Batman comics writer Scott Snyder. He tweeted, and then deleted, a post that specifically mentioned the Court of Owls. He used the hashtag #bewarethecourtofowls in his since-deleted post. You can see a screen-cap of his tweet below.

WB Games Montreal has numerous open positions posted on its jobs website, one of which mentions the studio is working on a “AAA unannounced game.” The studio is massive, as it currently employs more than 300 people and continues to staff up.

In 2016, Kotaku reported that WB Games Montreal canceled a Suicide Squad game and shifted focus to a new Batman game starring Damian Wayne. This could be the new title that WB Games Montreal is teasing, as Damian Wayne was featured in the 2012 comic “Night of Owls” that focuses on Batman’s fight against the Court of Owls. Nothing is confirmed, however.

In 2018, WB Games Montreal senior designer Osama Dorias said on the Humans of Gaming podcast that the studio was working on a “couple projects” connected to the DC universe. One of these games is a “major console game, open world, DC universe,” Dorias said.

Meanwhile, Batman: Arkham Knight studio Rocksteady is also working on a new project, though it has not been announced.

People are speculating that a forthcoming Batman game reveal could happen at the PlayStation State of Play event this week, though nothing at all has lent any credence to this.

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