Disney 'Pirates' sets sail with MMO game

May 29, 2007 Walt Disney Internet Group aims to capture an audience much broader than the typical video game aficionado with the summer launch of "Pirates of the Caribbean Online," a new massively multiplayer online game based on the "Pirates" franchise. Paul Yanover, executive vp and managing director of Disney Online, described the MMO -- defined as a computer game set in an ever-present virtual world that's capable of supporting thousands of online players simultaneously -- "as the next big piece in Disney's longer-term strategy to create virtual world experiences as natural extensions of Disney franchises." Not to be confused with the franchise's just-released console game, "Pirates" was first conceived in 1999 and has been in development at Disney's Virtual Reality Studio since the success of the first film three years ago.

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