It was only about two months ago that we heard about new content coming to Disney Infinity 3.0, but it looks like that will be the last content coming to the toyss-to-life game. General Manager John Blackburn wrote on the Disney Interactive Blog that after June, Disney Infinity will stop getting new updates. The last content to be released for the game will be figures based on Alice: Through the Looking Glass and Finding Dory playset.
Along with Disney Infinity, the entertainment giant is also discontinuing its internal game-making division. Because of this, Disney had to shut down Avalanche Studios, the Utah-based developer that developed and updated Infinity since it launched in 2013. Even though Disney has shut down it’s internal gaming division, that doesn’t mean we will stop seeing games based on Disney, Pixar, Marvel, or Star Wars. Disney will branch out to third-party developers to create games based on their franchises.
According to Disney, Infinity was not making enough profits to justify production costs, as the company revealed that their games division cost them a loss of 147 million. In an interview with VentureBeat, Disney said that “we have modified our approach to console gaming and will transition exclusively to a licensing model.” Also in the article was Disney Chief Executive officer Bob Iger saying that he “knew the toys-to-life market was risky and that the risk had caught up with them.”
Disney already has a fair standing in the mobile gaming market, and it sounds like the company will continue to license out its properties to mobile platforms. Some of the most popular Disney mobile games out right now are Star Wars Commander and Disney Cross Roads, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens to these games.
This is some pretty unfortunate news for Disney, Avalanche Studios, and Infinity fans. Blackburn wrote “I want to thank everyone who helped bring Disney Infinity to life, particularly Disney’s Glendale-based production and publishing teams, our external development partners, and of course the incredible Avalanche team for their tireless dedication to this project.”
These events really show how expensive video games are, and even a corporate giant like Disney can’t keep up with the market. Between movies, television, merchandise, and theme parks, Disney might have bit off more than they could chew with their own video game studio.