DisneyNOW To Remove Free Games
Last month, Disney closed down its DisneyNow app on mobile and streaming boxes. The app offers a wide selection of films and shows from Disney Channel and Disney Jr.
The shutdown of DisneyNOW also tied in with the closure of other free video-on-demand apps like ABC, National Geographic and Freeform, as the company’s focus has shifted to Disney+. While the apps closed down, the websites have continued to operate, allowing fans to access some of the latest shows for cable customers.
There is a wide selection of games available on DisneyNOW featuring many popular Disney Channel franchises like “Descendents”, “Big City Greens”, “Kiff”, “Spidey And His Amazing Friends”, and many more.
This week, Disney announced that it will also close the games section of the website on November 14th, 2024.
On the official DisneyNOW website, it gives a notification stating:
As of 11/14/24, Games are no longer available on the DisneyNOW website. The good news is that all your favorite Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD shows, Disney Channel Original Movies and live TV offerings are right where you left them! That’s right. You can still watch all of the Disney shows you love including the DisneyNOW collection of funny shorts, clips and music videos. You can also still create a profile using Disney Emojis and much, much more!
It hasn’t been confirmed if these games will be moved over to another website or mobile app. It’s likely that games will just be lost forever, since they are very basic games like trivia, puzzles, quizzes, and side scrollers for younger children.
s and probably haven’t cost too much for Disney to create, so they will be able to write off the asset costs.
Disney has been slowly reducing the number of different streaming apps it has, as it reduces costs, especially as new carriage deals have seen Disney+ offered to cable customers, resulting in these additional apps becoming unnecessary.
Roger’s Take: It’s very obvious that Disney is cutting back on how many different apps and websites it has its shows on, especially as sites like DisneyNOW were available to offer a VOD option to cable customers, prior to the launch of Disney+. Disney has likely seen a reduction in the amount of people using the website over the years and it makes no financial sense to offer this platform now that cable television is no longer the primary way of kids consuming Disney shows. I wouldn’t be surprised if DisneyNOW is completely closed down at some point in the future, as it’s directing audiences to Disney+ to watch the Disney Channel’s content.
What do you think of DisneyNOW removing its games? Let me know on social media!