FoxNext

FoxNext, LLC is a video game, virtual reality and theme park unit of 20th Century Fox. Prior to Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, it was operated under 20th Century Fox Film Corporation and the Fox Networks Group. It will handle development and publishing of video games, virtual reality and augmented reality titles, as well as the development of 20th Century Fox's theme and amusement parks, including 20th Century Fox World Malaysia. The division's president is Salil Mehta, a former executive from NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company, who has been with Fox since 2013 and later returned to Disney after they acquired Fox in 2019.

Background
Fox Innovation Lab was the source for the division's VR subdivision with its "The Martian VR Experience", released in 2016, which had bad reviews and was later highly discounted. In January 2017 at CES, Fox Innovation Lab announced a Planet of the Apes VR experience with Imaginati Studio as producer.

20th Century Fox Consumer Products announced a series of 20th Century Fox World theme parks in Asia in the early-to-mid-2010s. In 2013, Fox and Genting Malaysia Berhad signed to build a 20th Century Fox World theme park, the first such branded park. In 2014, Fox signed a deal With Village Roadshow Theme Parks to build 20th Century Fox World in South Korea. In November 2015, Fox and Al Ahli Holding Group signed to build 20th Century Fox World near Dubai in United Arab Emirates under an agreement that would allow Al Ahli to build a total of four Fox Worlds outside of the US.

History
FoxNext was formed in January 18, 2017 with the announcement of Salil Mehta as the division's president, who transferred from his prior post as president of content management for 20th Century Fox. Mehta would answer to the chairmen and CEOs of Fox Networks Group and 20th Century Fox, who at the time were Peter Rice and Stacey Snider respectively. The two video game units, responsible for the mobile game The Simpsons: Tapped Out and the Alien: Isolation video game, would become a single unit under FoxNext. The division would also gain the over site of the existing 20th Century Fox World theme park project under development as part of its location-based entertainment business, transferred from Fox Consumer Products.

On January 19, 2017, FoxNext announced a slate of VR games with Within VR, a joint venture of Chris Milk and former Google Creative Lab leader Aaron Koblin, which was founded in 2014 as VRSE with funding from Fox, Legendary Pictures and others. This slate, which would be available via the Within app, included a new Planet of the Apes game, along with original works from Milk, Spike Jonze and Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures. On June 6, 2017, they acquired Aftershock Studios (formerly the Kabam Los Angeles and San Francisco studios), with Aftershock head Aaron Loeb becoming president of the FoxNext Games studios.

On June 1, 2017, FoxNext announced that veteran marketing executive James Finn has been named executive vice president and head of marketing for FoxNext. They added Marc Zachary as senior vice president of business development at FoxNext Destinations.

On July 27, 2017, FoxNext Games announced that they were developing an action/RPG multiplayer mobile game based on the Marvel Universe in conjunction with Marvel Entertainment and Aftershock Studios. The Marvel game is named Marvel Strike Force and was released on March 28, 2018 for Android and iOS.

In January 2018, FoxNext acquired Cold Iron Studios from game publisher Perfect World Entertainment. On April 26, 2018, FoxNext opened its first location-based virtual reality experience, Alien: Descent, at The Outlets at Orange in Orange County, California.

On April 29, 2018, the Dubai park was put on indefinite hold by the Al Ahli Group amid concerns that there was a "serious supply" of theme parks in Dubai. In late 2018, Genting Malaysia and FoxNext started legal actions against each other over 20th Century Fox World delays. The two parties settled out of court in July 2019.

on February 7, 2019, FoxNext indicated the opening of a development fund to assist indie developers to form resources and support. Altered Matter's game Etherborn is the first to join FoxNext Games' indie portfolio.

FoxNext was one of the properties acquired by Disney upon the acquisition of 20th Century Fox. In September 2019, Disney indicated it was looking to sell FoxNext; in the past, Disney, led by CEO Bob Iger, has eliminated in-house video game development and is relying on third parties to develop games based on its IP.

Divisions

 * FoxNext Games
 * FoxNext Games Los Angeles
 * Aftershock (June 2017— )
 * Cold Iron Studios (January 2019— )
 * Fogbank Entertainment
 * FoxNext VR Studios
 * FoxNext Destinations

Future theme parks

 * 20th Century Fox World (Dubai) on hold

Cancelled theme parks

 * 20th Century Fox World (Malaysia)

In 2013, 20th Century Fox Consumer Products and Genting Malaysia Berhad signed to build a 20th Century Fox World theme park, the first such branded park. Genting is funding the 25-acre park at $300 million, which would consist of 25 rides and attractions based on Fox films. 20th Century Fox issued a default notice in regards to its licensing agreement for the 20th Century Fox World theme park in Malaysia by Genting Malaysia Bhd, which was then under construction. In November 2018, Genting Malaysia filed suit in response to and included soon-to-be-parent The Walt Disney Company. The two parties settled out of court in July 2019 in which the Fox name would be dropped from the park while certain Fox properties would be available for Genting to finish the park with the addition of non-Fox properties.

Virtual reality

 * Crisis on the Planet of the Apes (April 3, 2018) for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR; inherited from Fox Innovation Lab with Imaginati Studio as producer
 * Alien: Descent (April 26, 2018—), a location based experience at The Outlets at Orange, Orange County, California.

Video games

 * Marvel Strike Force (March 2018) with Aftershock Studios LA
 * Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow (June 29, 2017) with TinyCo (Jam City), Matt Groening and The Curiosity Company, and animation studio Rough Draft Studios
 * The X-Files: Deep State (February 6, 2018) with Estonia-based studio Creative Mobile
 * Alien: Blackout (2019) with D3 Go! and Rival Games