Video game, virtual reality and theme park company
For the defunct Portugal television station, see
Fox Next
.
FoxNext, LLC
was a virtual reality and theme park unit of 20th Century Fox, now known as
20th Century Studios
. It was established in 2017 prior to
Disney's acquisition of Fox
and operated under the
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products
unit of
The Walt Disney Company
. It handled the development and publishing of
virtual reality
and
augmented reality
titles, as well as the development of 20th Century Studios's theme and amusement parks. The division's president was Salil Mehta, a former executive from
NBCUniversal
and
The Walt Disney Company
, who has been with Fox since 2013 and later returned to Disney after Disney acquired Fox in 2019 until on January 23, 2020, when the company's gaming assets were sold to
Scopely
.
[1]
[2]
History
[
edit
]
Formation
[
edit
]
FoxNext was formed on January 18, 2017, with the announcement of Salil Mehta as division president transferring from his prior post as president of content management for Twentieth Century Fox Film. The division president would answer to chairman and CEO of Fox Networks Group, and chairman and CEO of Twentieth Century Fox Film, who at the time were Peter Rice and Stacey Snider, respectively. The two video gaming units responsible for
The Simpsons: Tapped Out
mobile game, Fox Digital Entertainment, and the
Alien: Isolation
console/PC game would become a single unit under FoxNext. The division also gain the over site of the existing 20th Century Fox World theme park project under development as part of its location-based entertainment business
[1]
transferred from Fox Consumer Products.
[3]
FoxNext on January 19, 2017, announced a VR slate with Chris Milk's and former Googler Aaron Koblin's Within VR company, which was founded in 2014 as VRSE with funding from Fox,
Legendary Pictures
and others. This slate, which would be available via the Within app, included another ”Planet of the Apes”, original works from Milk, Spike Jonze and Megan Ellison and Annapurna Pictures.
[4]
On June 6, 2017, it acquired Aftershock Studios (formerly
Kabam
's Los Angeles and San Francisco studios) with Aftershock head Aaron Loeb becoming president of studios for FoxNext Games.
[5]
On June 1, 2017, FoxNext announced that veteran marketing executive James Finn has been named executive VP and head of marketing for FoxNext.
[6]
FoxNext added Marc Zachary as FoxNext Destinations' senior vice president of business development.
[7]
On July 27, 2017, FoxNext Games announced that they were developing an action/RPG multiplayer mobile game,
Marvel Strike Force
, in conjunction with
Marvel Entertainment
and Aftershock Studios on the
Marvel Universe
.
[8]
[9]
Released on March 28, 2018,
Marvel Strike Force
brought in $150 million in revenue over its first year.
[10]
FoxNext also published game by other studios including
Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow
(2017) and
The X-Files: Deep State
(2018).
[10]
The games division formed in March 2018 Fogbank Entertainment in San Francisco splitting them off from Aftershock Studios.
[11]
FoxNext acquired in January 2018 Cold Iron Studios from Perfect World Entertainment games publisher.
[12]
On April 26, 2018, FoxNext opened its first virtual-reality experience location-based, “Alien: Descent”, at The Outlets at Orange mall in Orange County, California.
[13]
On 29 April 2018, the Dubai park was put on indefinite hold by the Al Ahli Group amid concerns that there was a "serious supply" of theme parks in Dubai.
[14]
In late 2018 Genting Malaysia and FoxNext started legal actions against each other over 20th Century Fox World delays.
[15]
The two parties settled out of court in July 2019.
[16]
FoxNext indicated on February 7, 2019, the opening of a development fund to assist indie developers with resources and support. Altered Matter's
Etherborn
game is the first to join FoxNext Games indie games portfolio.
[17]
Sale of assets to
Scopely
[
edit
]
FoxNext was one of the properties acquired by
The Walt Disney Company
upon its
acquisition of 21st Century Fox
. In September 2019, Disney indicated it was looking to sell or shuttering parts of FoxNext.
[18]
In the past Disney, led by CEO
Bob Iger
, has eliminated in-house video game development and relying on third-parties to develop games based on its IP, after shutting down
Disney Interactive Studios
back in 2016.
[19]
Disney sold the FoxNext Games division, which included FoxNext Games Los Angeles, Cold Iron Studios and Aftershock, to mobile game developer
Scopely
in January 2020 for an undisclosed amount; Scopely stated it later plans to divest itself of Cold Iron Studios as they develop games for consoles and personal computers. The deal includes most of the IP developed by the studios excluding properties specifically owned by Fox distinct from the Disney acquisition.
[2]
[20]
Fogbank Entertainment was shuttered later in January 2020.
[11]
Legacy
[
edit
]
In 2021, The Walt Disney Company formed
20th Century Games
as the new video game division for 20th Century Studios. However, unlike FoxNext or Fox Interactive, 20th Century Games is not a video game publisher, it only functions as a license holder for 20th Century Studios' properties, similar to
Lucasfilm Games
.
[21]
One of the projects originally worked on at FoxNext -
Aliens: Fireteam Elite
, was reassigned to 20th Century Games for licensing after the sale of Cold Iron from Scopely to
Daybreak Game Company
.
Assets
[
edit
]
- FoxNext Games
- FoxNext Games Los Angeles (January 2020; sold to Scopely)
[2]
- Aftershock (June 2017?January 2020;
[22]
sold to Scopely)
[23]
- Cold Iron Studios (January 2018
[12]
?January 2020; sold to Scopely and then to
Daybreak Game Company
)
[2]
[24]
- Fogbank Entertainment (March 2018?January 2020; closed by Disney)
[11]
- FoxNext Destinations
[22]
- FoxNext VR Studio
Theme parks
[
edit
]
Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products
announced a series of Twentieth Century Fox World theme parks in Asia in early to mid-2010s. Fox and
Genting Malaysia Berhad
agreed in 2013 to build a Twentieth Century Fox World theme park, the first such branded park.
[3]
With
Village Roadshow Theme Parks
in 2014, Fox agreed to build a Fox World in South Korea.
[25]
In November 2015, Fox and Al Ahli Holding Group agreed to build a 20th Century Fox World near
Dubai
in
United Arab Emirates
[26]
under an agreement that would allow Al Ahli to build a total of four Fox Worlds outside of the US.
[14]
Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products
and
Genting Malaysia Berhad
agreed in 2013 to build a Twentieth Century Fox World theme park, the first such branded park. Genting funded the $300 million, 25 acre, park which consisted of 25 rides and attractions based on Fox films.
[3]
20th Century Fox issued a default notice in regards to its licensing agreement for the then-under construction
20th Century Fox World
theme park in Malaysia by Genting Malaysia Bhd. In November 2018 Genting Malaysia filed suit in response and included soon to be parent
The Walt Disney Company
.
[15]
The two parties settled out of court in July 2019 in which the Fox name would be dropped from the park while certain Fox properties would be available for Genting to finish the park with the addition of non-Fox properties.
[16]
In May 2020, the Genting Group confirmed that the new name for the park would be called
Genting SkyWorlds
.
[27]
With
Village Roadshow Theme Parks
in 2014, Fox agreed to build a 75-acre Fox World in 700-acre Ungdong Entertainment Complex,
Changwon City, South Korea
. Village Roadshow would operate the park.
[25]
Fox may have backed off from the Ungdong location due to the investigation into
South Gyeongsang
Governor
Hong Joon-pyo
. By May 16, 2015, Fox Global Location Based Entertainment was looking at building a theme park on
Yeongjong Island
,
Incheon
with Incheon Metropolitan Government as a potential investor.
[28]
On 29 April 2018, the park was put on indefinite hold by the Al Ahli Group amid concerns from its CEO Mohammed Khammas that there was a "serious supply" of theme parks in Dubai.
[14]
Locations
[
edit
]
Virtual reality
[
edit
]
Fox Innovation Lab was the source for the division's VR subdivision with its "The Martian VR Experience" 2016 released
[4]
which was had a low review and highly discounted later.
[13]
In January 2017 at
CES
, Fox Innovation Lab announced a "Planet of the Apes" VR experience with Imaginati Studio as producer.
[4]
[31]
- Crisis on the Planet of the Apes VR
(April 3, 2018) game for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR; inherited from Fox Innovation Lab with Imaginati Studio as producer
[32]
- "Alien: Descent" (April 26, 2018) location base experience at The Outlets, Orange mall, Orange County, California.
[13]
Video games
[
edit
]
Fox Interactive
(sold to
Vivendi Universal Games
in 2003) was 20th Century Fox's first video game division when it was founded in 1994 by former
Time Warner Interactive
executive Ted Hoff.
Fox Digital Entertainment
would be the second Fox video game division when it was founded in 2010, but it solely focused on making games for mobile devices.
- Marvel Strike Force
mobile game (March 2018) FoxNext Games LA
[13]
- Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow
mobile game (June 29, 2017) TinyCo (Jam City), Groening and his Curiosity Co. and animation studio Rough Draft Studios
[33]
- The X-Files: Deep State
mystery-investigation puzzle game (February 6, 2018) Estonia-based game studio Creative Mobile
[34]
- Alien: Blackout
mobile game (January 2019) D3 Go!, Rival Games
[35]
- Storyscape
- Fogbank Entertainment
- What the Golf
- Triband
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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'Marvel Strike Force' Mobile Fighting Game Release Date Set for 2018 (Video)"
.
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.
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.
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a
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.
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a
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.
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.
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.
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a
b
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.
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.
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.
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
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. Retrieved
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.
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.
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.
External links
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Film production
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TV production
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Other
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Predecessors
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Defunct or sold units
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See also
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Lists of films
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