Michael Eisner’s time running Disney remains one of the most consequential periods in the company’s history.Eisner became CEO in 1984, when Disney looked very different from the entertainment giant audiences know today. During his roughly two decades in charge, Disney experienced an enormous creative and corporate expansion. The Disney Renaissance transformed animation, new theme parks opened around the world, Disney expanded its television presence, and the company became a much larger force in Hollywood.Nearly 21 years have passed since Eisner stepped down as Disney CEO in September 2005. Now, the 84-year-old former executive is looking back at one area where he believes Disney — and Hollywood as a whole — got it wrong.Credit: DisneyAnd the consequences of that mistake remain surprisingly relevant to Disney today.Michael Eisner Admits Hollywood Got Gaming WrongDuring a recent Paley Center for Media discussion titled “Sports in the Gaming Era,” Eisner addressed Hollywood’s complicated history with video games.His assessment wasn’t particularly forgiving.“We all failed,” Eisner said. “We ended up licensing. That’s how we succeeded.”Eisner wasn’t saying Disney alone failed. Instead, he argued that traditional entertainment companies struggled to understand how to take the intellectual property they already owned and successfully move it into an entirely different medium.Video games presented an especially difficult challenge.Eisner pointed back to Warner Bros.‘ experience with Atari in the 1980s as an example of Hollywood’s early struggles. According to Eisner, entertainment executives simply weren’t equipped for a business that relied so heavily on technology.Gaming “was so technologically driven in the beginning, which was not the strong suit of any of us,” Eisner explained.Eventually, Disney and other entertainment companies found a simpler solution: rather than trying to build everything themselves, they could license their characters and franchises to companies that already understood gaming.But the industry has changed dramatically since then.Disney’s Biggest Strength Became IPEisner believes today’s gaming landscape is much better suited for a company like Disney.“Now it’s story-driven,” Eisner said. “Now it is IP-driven.”That distinction matters because intellectual property has become arguably Disney’s most valuable weapon.Disney can take a successful character or story and spread it across movies, television, merchandise, theme parks, games, and countless other businesses.“We all take the IP that we made and put it in a place where you can enjoy it,” Eisner said. But he added another important warning: “At a certain point in your life, you have to make the IP the new IP.”That second part may be even more interesting when looking at Disney in 2026.Disney owns an extraordinary collection of established franchises, but the company has also faced years of questions about whether it relies too heavily on familiar characters, sequels, remakes, and extensions of existing brands.Ironically, Eisner admits he once had almost the opposite philosophy.Credit: DisneyEisner Once Didn’t Believe in SequelsBefore and during the earlier stages of his career, Eisner strongly preferred original entertainment.“I never believed in sequels,” Eisner said, describing his philosophy as “everything’s going to be original.”His Disney tenure helped produce plenty of original hits.Disney released The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994) during the Disney Renaissance. Those movies didn’t begin as extensions of existing Disney film franchises. They became franchises because audiences embraced them.Over time, however, Eisner came to appreciate just how valuable recognizable properties could become.That realization has since transformed Disney’s entire business.Eisner Points to Star Wars as a Disney SuccessAlthough Eisner had already left the company when Disney began its enormous acquisition spree, he now considers one of those purchases among Disney’s smartest decisions.Eisner specifically praised Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm and Star Wars.“We had nothing in the last 20 years, so we bought Star Wars from George Lucas and that worked,” Eisner said.His description was an exaggeration, of course. Disney also acquired Pixar in 2006 and Marvel in 2009 before purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012.Still, Eisner’s larger point centered on the enormous loyalty surrounding established franchises.“They are so committed to the IP that I realize that there are certain kinds of things that are worth doing,” Eisner said of fans.Disney has spent much of the past decade putting that philosophy into practice.Star Wars expanded through theatrical releases, Disney+ series, merchandise, video games, and major theme park investments. Marvel followed a similar path, while Disney increasingly turned animated movies into larger franchises spanning sequels, streaming projects, live-action adaptations, attractions, and consumer products.But Eisner also sees danger in taking that strategy too far.Credit: LucasfilmEisner Thinks Disney May Have Gone Too FarPerhaps the most interesting part of Eisner’s comments involves Star Wars.The former Disney CEO warned that established intellectual property can provide companies with an easier path into new businesses, but eventually they need to create something audiences haven’t seen before.“The key is after you have five or six IPs, you make a great game that nobody’s ever heard of,” Eisner said. “It’ll be a giant game. But it’s going to take a while.”He called franchise licensing “a great way to get in,” but warned against endlessly returning to the same properties.Eisner even suggested Disney may have “overstepped its bounds” with Star Wars because of the number of sequels and extensions surrounding the franchise.That’s a striking observation coming from someone who once ran Disney.It also connects Eisner’s admission about Hollywood’s gaming failure to a much larger question facing Disney today.Disney Is Still Trying to Find the Right BalanceDisney’s original problem was figuring out how to take its stories into emerging forms of entertainment such as gaming. Licensing eventually provided an answer.Now, the challenge has almost reversed.Disney understands the value of intellectual property exceptionally well. The harder question is how long the company can continue extending familiar franchises before audiences begin wanting something genuinely new.Eisner’s comments suggest that successful IP should provide a foundation rather than become the entire strategy.That makes his admission about past failures especially interesting nearly 21 years after his departure from Disney.The technology has changed. Disney has changed. Gaming has changed dramatically.But the underlying challenge Eisner described hasn’t disappeared.Disney still has to decide when to rely on the characters and franchises audiences already love — and when to take the much bigger risk of creating the next one.What do you think has been Disney’s biggest failure? Let us know in the comments!The post After 21 Years, Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner Admits “We All Failed” appeared first on Inside the Magic.