LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The Walt Disney Co. has used mobile games to promote its movies, but now it’s trying something new: launching a cuddly character in a game in the hope he makes it to the big screen someday.
In a first effort at the new strategy, Disney is launching this week an animated alligator named “Swampy,” whose bizarre quest in the 99-cent iPhone game “Where’s My Water?” is to keep clean.
The reptile, unlike his in-the-wild counterparts, lives under a big city and mostly hangs around in his bathtub, waiting for iPhone owners to dig a digital trench that allows water to flow into his poorly connected plumbing.
Disney Mobile general manager Bart Decrem says one goal is to incubate new characters that can cross over into other Disney business units.
