Disney Dreamlight Valley Laying the foundations for interactive fan worlds

To try and capture a slice of the vast popularity of Nintendo’s life simulator Animal Crossing, Disney created its own game in 2022 that allows players to inhabit a fantasy world based on its infamous IP. In Disney Dreamlight Valley, players can create an avatar based on their likeness before farming, fishing, mining, and cooking in a magical kingdom with Disney characters to befriend, from Mickey Mouse and Goofy, to Elsa from Frozen. The video game, released across console and PC, stokes player engagement by offering a series of quests to improve both the surrounding world and the player’s in-game home. These quests are linked to varying tiers of in-game currency, including Moonstones, that can be brought with actual money to unlock player cosmetics and in-game items.

The game has the building blocks for monetising fandom, including in-game cosmetics which resemble merchandise that can be brought from Disney stores in-real-life. However, the game also lacks key components that would allow Disney to fully realise the monetisation potential. For example, the game does not offer support co-op or multiplayer, which was not only a key component behind the success of Animal Crossing, but is key to driving in-game purchasing. By allowing players to bring their friends into their world to show them what they have created, Disney would give them the opportunity to parade their cosmetics and avatar items. This, in turn, would inspire players to make similar purchases.

Secondly, an interactive fan world focused on older audiences should be mobile-first. Players can then play in the snatches of time during work hours, their studies, or while commuting. This is less applicable to the parts of Disney’s IP aimed at children. However, short mini-games that unlock collectibles will help drive repeatable engagement for children and adults alike. These collectibles should not only be linked to fandom expression by providing areas where players can showcase their progress, but also to tiered achievements that unlock fandom rewards.

An interactive fan world built-up from Disney Dreamlight Valley needs to provide the original source of the fandom: a viewing experience where players can interact with the movies and TV series. Interactive fan world users should be able to co-watch Disney movies within the confines of the interactive fan world, with those IPs being offered as high-value achievement assets or as purchasable experiences. A sophisticated interactive fan would take these IPs and deliver them as fully licenced content sandboxes for creators to build their own experiences and social content around the IP. With the advent of generative AI posing questions about how much unlicenced IP will be used in content creation, an interactive fan world provides a controlled environment for players to express their fandom without the risk of copyright infringement.

Roles

This report is relevant to the following roles:

Product Strategy