Disney’s top game and online executive steps down

Disney lost one of its major executives today as Steve Wadsworth, the company’s digital leader, overseeing Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG), has announced his resignation. In an e-mail sent to staff he wrote, “I have been thinking about this for quite some time, and while it is difficult to leave a great company, an exciting business and a wonderful group of people, my desire and excitement to pursue other opportunities is too great to ignore.”

Wadsworth was with Disney for 11 years and managed the digital and video game businesses with major successes like Club Penguin and the soon-to-be-launched Epic Mickey from Warren Spector. He also helped with the important acquisition of leading social games firm Playdom. See Industry Gamers for more.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.