Sony and Disney Align To Produce Games For PlayStation 2 and PSOne Consoles Based On Disney Feature Animated Content

Disney Interactive, Sony Computer Entertainment America and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today announced an exclusive, multi-title agreement through which the companies will develop and publish video games for PlayStation 2, PlayStation and PS one platforms, based on five upcoming and highly anticipated film properties from The Walt Disney Company: Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc., Disney’s Lilo and Stitch, Disney’s Treasure Planet, and Disney’s Peter Pan: Return to Neverland.

Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire for PS one and PlayStation launches June 2001 in North America, in conjunction with the US release of the feature animated film, and October 2001 in Europe. Games for PlayStation 2 and PS one formats based on Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc., will release around the time of the US film debut, and in Europe in early 2002.

“Disney Interactive is delighted to align with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring the creative content of these highly anticipated feature animation properties to the millions of Disney and PlayStation fans around the world,” said Jan Smith, president, Disney Interactive. “This agreement reflects Disney Interactive’s commitment to PlayStation 2 and PS one, now and in the future, as well as Sony Computer Entertainment’s acknowledgement of the value of the Disney brand. We are proud to offer consumers the rich, enduring content of these great Disney films on the PlayStation gaming systems.”

“We are proud to be able to continue our long-standing relationship with Disney and are excited to be involved with such anticipated animated film releases as Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc.,” said Kaz Hirai, president and chief operating officer, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. “It is a natural that the global family entertainment leader align itself with the leading brand in videogames for the marketing and distribution of their interactive entertainment products. Through our continued efforts to provide a wide range of entertainment choices for PlayStation consumers, and our history of partnering with the top brands, the inclusion of the Disney titles to our product mix complements our corporate strategy beautifully.”

Commenting on the agreement, Chris Deering, President of SCEE said:

“We have worked now with Disney Interactive since 1995, introducing their first PlayStation title, Disney’s Mickey’s Wild Adventure, and since then 10 other PlayStation titles and very soon Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire on PS one, which is due to release in Autumn of this year. The strength of Disney Interactive’s development team, and their ability to deliver first-rate entertainment products in many languages, has played a major role in ensuring that PlayStation and now PS one has extended its reach to a very wide audience across age groups, gender and country.’’ He continued, “We are very happy to renew and strengthen the agreement by not only introducing more new PS one games, but also software titles based on these very important new Disney film releases for PlayStation 2.”

Thierry Braille, Vice President/Managing Director of Disney Interactive added:

‘‘The working relationship between our companies has always been excellent and we are convinced that SCEE have the best sales and marketing teams to take on these major Disney Interactive releases. We believe the 31 million PlayStations installed in the SCEE PAL territories and the continued impressive sales growth of PS one, coupled with the enormous success of PlayStation 2 and the magnitude of these Disney properties, is without doubt, a winning formula.