Formation 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 transferred from Fox Consumer Products. On June 1, 2017, FoxNext announced that veteran marketing executive James Finn has been named executive VP and head of marketing for FoxNext. FoxNext added Marc Zachary as FoxNext Destinations' senior vice president of business development. 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. Released on March 28, 2018,
Marvel Strike Force brought in $150 million in revenue over its first year. FoxNext also published game by other studios including
Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow (2017) and
The X-Files: Deep State (2018). FoxNext acquired in January 2018 Cold Iron Studios from Perfect World Entertainment games publisher. 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. 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. The two parties settled out of court in July 2019. 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.
Sale of assets to Scopely 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. 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. 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 amount which are still yet to be disclosed since 2020; 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. Fogbank Entertainment was shuttered later in January 2020. 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==