Disney buys a new developer... sort of

As numerous outlets, including Variety, reported in the past day, Disney Interactive Studios has bought its sixth developer: China's GameStar.

But it's worth noting that this isn't anything close to DIS' purchase of, say, Junction Point or Avalanche or the studio formerly known as Climax.

Right now, Gamestar does outsourcing work supporting other studios. It has done that for DIS in the past, including assisting Avalanche on one of the "Hannah Montana" games. For now, DIS is buying it to have some inexpensive outsourced labor in China to help with game development. This is not a studio that's ready and able to make AAA games for the publisher.

At some point in the future, of course, Gamestar might be ready to do just that. And when it happens, it could be a great asset for Disney to publish some games tailored to the fast growing Chinese market.

But for now, its 90 employees in Shanghai and Wuhan will be pitching in on the kind of titles we know (or perhaps don't know) that Disney is already making at its other five internal studios.