For a megacorporation like Disney, which has to manage its franchises for film, books, TV and various other formats, it's more cost-effective to license its games to the highest bidder with the best resources. In a world where competitors are increasingly targeting digital releases, it's incredibly expensive to manufacture retail games - let alone toys-to-life titles that require a lineup of action figures hitting stores throughout the year. 'If it doesn't do well, the opposite will be the case.'ĭisney Infinity did do well, but not well enough.

'If Infinity does well, it bodes very well for the bottom line of this unit,' Iger said at the time. I had thought for sure that those Disney Infinity figures were a goldmine. Between 20, Disney Interactive had accumulated losses of $1.41 billion.

2013, just months before Infinity debuted on the world stage, Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger told Wall Street analysts that if the series didn't perform well, he would likely tear down the company's gaming division and switch to an all-licensing model. In fact, Disney set the stage for disappointment early in Infinity's life cycle.īack in Feb. Avalanche, a studio of roughly 300 people, was shut down.Īgain, our surprise was justified - but we should have seen it coming. In a blog post this week, Disney Interactive SVP John Blackburn announced that the series was canceled, and Disney later clarified that it was finished making video games, full stop. Sales started to waver by early 2016, though the franchise was far from failing.Īnd then it was over. 1 toys-to-life franchise, outselling both Skylanders and LEGO Dimensions.

2015, Infinity was estimated to be the No. As more games and figurines hit the stores, Infinity carried the Interactive division to profitability, again and again. In the year after the original game's release, Disney Interactive posted its first annual operating profit in recent memory. Very sad to see it canceled.ĭisney Infinity was the 10th-best-selling game of 2013, hitting 3 million sales by Jan. Financially, Infinity single-handedly turned around Disney's gaming division, Disney Interactive.ĭisney Infinity is such a strangely great game. Infinity entered the fray in 2013, two years after the original toys-to-life series, Skylanders, debuted. Disney Infinity was a respectable and adored franchise in the toys-to-life category, and its developer, Avalanche Software, was held in high regard. Hell, even I gasped when I read the blog post.

My phone buzzed with questions and incredulity from friends. However, when the news went live, Twitter immediately lit up with shock. No one should have been surprised by Disney's announcement that it was canceling the Disney Infinity series and shutting down its video game business.

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