NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
Disney backs out of console gaming and cancels ‘Disney Infinity’ series
The Walt Disney Company has announced that it will be discontinuing production on its toys-to-life game series, Disney Infinity, and it will also be shutting down Avalanche Software, the company’s internal game studio that had been in charge of the franchise.
“From the beginning, Disney Infinity was built for you—our fans—and I wanted to take a moment to thank you not just for your support over the years, but for creating a community that made Disney Infinity more than just a game,” John Blackburn, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Disney Infinity, said in a statement.
“Our goal for Disney Infinity was to bring the best of Disney storytelling to life in homes around the world, and with your support we accomplished that. We hope you had as much fun playing the game as we had making it.”
Blackburn noted that Disney Infinity still has two more retail releases coming out this year, including three characters from Alice Through the Looking Glass and a Finding Dory play set, but aside from those, no further products will be released for the series.
What went wrong?
Considering the powerhouse IPs Disney has to work with, it is surprising that Disney Infinity would be so quickly abandoned, especially given the success of similar products like Skylanders and Nintendo Amiibo, both of which have sold tens of millions of figures and games.
However, in a statement to GamesBeat, Disney explained that Disney Infinity has not enjoyed the same level of success, and the company said that “the lack of growth in the toys-to-life market, coupled with high development costs, has created a challenging business model.”
Disney is not only shelving the Disney Infinity series, it is also pulling out of console game development entirely with the closure of Avalanche Software. The company has said that it will instead be moving to a licensing model, allowing other studios to develop games based on Disney properties without the need for Disney to have a direct hand in their production.
Disney will continue to co-develop its own mobile games through its Disney Mobile division.
Image courtesy of The Walt Disney Company
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