Game File reporter Stephen Totilo had high expectations of interviewing former Disney CEO Michael Eisner about why he ultimately decided to approve Kingdom Hearts. Unfortunately when Totilo approached him he had no memory of agreeing to the deal. When he was told it was Final Fantasy plus Disney characters his memory was jogged a bit. It was far from the interview that Totilo expected.
Eisner steps down from the dais and I approach him, identifying myself as a reporter. I ask him if he can recall saying okay to a game called Kingdom Hearts.
No, he replies.
You were pitched the game in Tokyo, I tell him. It was Final Fantasy plus Disney characters.
Oh, I remember now, he says.
Do you recall why you said yes?
I don’t, he tells me.
I’d be surprised if Michael Eisner was stealing stocks from Square Enix.
I would have been more surprised if he actually remembered doing it. CEOs in America are a joke.
I wasn’t surprise he didn’t remember making that deal. This is why we all have notebooks for.
Makes sense, it’s an old business deal by now and he probably never looked at the game let alone played it.
A good CEO would remember and know every detail, even if he’s not a gamer, it’s their product, their IP, their characters, etc. Reggie knew every deal and product and partnership and despite being very busy always took the time to play every game (and this is a guy who came from a background in non-gaming industries). Clearly it was just a job to make lots of money for Eisner, and I doubt he actually “remembers now” even, likely just said he remembers to shut the reporter up. But that partnership has surely earned Disney a lot of money, you’d think he’d remember that (maybe if he does remember, that’s the only reason). Hiroshi Yamauchi wasn’t a gamer but imagine him saying he didn’t remember approving FINAL FANTASY or Dragon Quest or Chrono Trigger or Super Mario RPG. He still knew his company and partnerships and IPs. Kingdom Hearts isn’t exactly an obscure title/series. It’s a pretty big deal.
I belive the answer at the time was…. Money🤷
Disney makes millions of deals a year
Honestly not surprising given how long ago it was, but still pretty funny considering how huge Kingdom Hearts became!