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Fox creates new video games division: FoxNext

New division will also handle location-based entertainment, VR and AR

Christopher Dring avatar
News by Christopher Dring Head of Games B2B
Published on

TV and movie giant Fox has launched a new video games division called FoxNext.

The new division will be led by Salil Mehta, who was previously president of content management for Twentieth Century Fox Film. As well as video games, the new group will also handle VR, AR and location-based entertainment (that's the planned 20th Century Fox World theme park). FoxNext will work across both the company's film and TV divisions.

Fox has been generally cautious towards the games segment in recent years, and has been selective in who it licences its IP to. Recent successful collaborations include The Simpsons: Tapped Out with EA and Alien: Isolation with Sega. The teams responsible for these two games will be combined into FoxNext.

Mehta joined Fox in 2013 following extended stints at NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company. He will now report to both Fox Networks Group CEO Peter Rice and Twentieth Century Fox Film CEO Stacey Snider.

Reporting to Mehta includes Rick Phillips, the newly appointed Executive Vice President of Fox Interactive; Greg Lombardo, Senior Vice President of Fox Location Based Entertainment; Brendan Handler, Senior Vice President of New Media and General Manager of FoxNext's VR Studio; and Ted Schilowitz, Fox Futurist.

Upcoming projects include the already announced Alien and Planet of the Apes VR experiences, which follow the success of The Martian VR Experience.

"We're excited by the power of new technologies to drive the art of storytelling forward and we know we've only scratched the surface," said Peter Rice. "Salil brings a strategic business vision and a deep understanding of new technologies allowing us to expand our creative capabilities."

Stacey Snider added:"'Extending our storytelling to new platforms in new ways is a constant focus for us as we look to build more touch points with consumers every day. Building on the momentum we've already seen in this area via the Fox Innovation Lab, FoxNext represents a natural next step in defining our long-term vision in this arena, and Salil is quite simply the perfect executive to build this group into what we know will be an industry leader."