Disney Cancels Disney Infinity And Avalanche Software Shuttered

monster

http://kotaku.com/disney-cancels-disney-infinity-1775846793

I've always loved the art done by Avalanche Software on the Disney games. Hope everyone lands on their feet quickly.

At Playful Corp we are going to start hiring soon (Character Artist, Concept Artists, Environment Artist, Design, and Engineering). If anyone knows any of their team members let them know. http://www.playfulcorp.com/careers.html

Segreto

Dang, that's sad news. I really liked their work. My girls play the hell out of Infinity.

Best of luck to you all that are affected by this.

Mark Dygert

That's a shame, I really liked that game, mostly because I played a lot of it with my daughter. But it feels like they won't ever get a chance to finish it. 

pior

That sucks, the art direction on the characters and its evolution over the years was a pleasure to look at. Fantastic work all around.

There is definitely something very grim about the idea of a huge company pulling the plug on a "games as service" product tied to physical toys for kids. Basically in a few months time you'll hear things like "Daddy, why are Buzz Lightyear and Anna not working anymore ?". So weird.

xvampire

but what about Ninja Theory? do they still helping out DIsney Infinity ?

JacqueChoi

So.. let me get this straight..

The studio that made a game raked in over $200million last fall is deemed expendable?

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2016/01/02/disney-infinity-now-most-popular-toys-to-life-series-thanks-to-star-wars-2

VelvetElvis

Yeah, this is shocking. I though Infinity printed money for Disney. I guess Disney thinks it to be too much of a risk to keep games being developed under their umbrella, thus they are shuttering all of their studios. It all started with LucasArts.

skyline5gtr

Pure greed is all this is, they will probably outsource the IP to someone in asia or somewhere cheaper 

low odor

My daughter still plays the Toy Story 3 game that they made. It is such a wonderful example of a beautiful, well crafted, fun as hell, game...it's a shame, they produced some  great stuff- hopefully they continue on in a new incarnation

Mark Dygert

JacqueChoi said:

So.. let me get this straight..

The studio that made a game raked in over $200million last fall is deemed expendable?

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2016/01/02/disney-infinity-now-most-popular-toys-to-life-series-thanks-to-star-wars-2

Yep. It's Disney they are mitigating risk as they spend everything they have on OTHER risks, namely a crap-ton of Star Wars movies and park expansions. 

Disney park #5, Shanghai Disneyland opens in June. It will take a decade or two before it pulls a profit.
Renovations to existing rides, park expansions, and the reworking of major facets of the existing parks.
ESPN's poor performance is impacting a lot of decisions.

That's what happens when you choose to ignore the decline of cable, the raise of streaming and the opulence that was lost when the American middle class took a bath in 2006. /shrug

MagicSugar

skyline5gtr said:

Pure greed is all this is...

Not really.

A lot of  people from the middle class have investments tied to Disney stocks.  Teachers' pension funds for example.  The California State Teachers' Retirement System owned 5 millions shares in 2013.  Only 0.3% of outstanding company shares, but they can still exert pressure on Disney executives to produce favorable and positive financial results otherwise they could oust them from their superbly paid roles come investors voting time. (In comparison... Robert Iger the CEO, only owns 1,262,045 shares as of January of this year. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=dis+Major+Holders)

Heartless in sacrifiicng 300 workers? 100%

Darth Tomi

Maybe parents got tired of spending a boatload of money on all these games and toys to go with it. Between Disney Infinity, Skylanders and Amiibo that's gonna leave you with a pretty thin wallet. I have exactly one (1) figure, Boba Fett who looks kinda cute sitting on my desk, and that's all I'm spending...
I play video games and all but I thought this was a big cash grab.

MagicSugar

Somebody could license the IP from Disney, just for the game side of it.  It's too costly for giant Disney now with it's hydra like global multi-investments going on but for a lean and experienced dev studio...I think it's possible to still make some profit from the core demographic the IP is primed for.

Jerc

The only good side of this is that all these gorgeous figurines will now be available for cheap in the bargain bin at your local Target or Gamestop.

Mstankow

Mark Dygert said:

That's what happens when you choose to ignore the decline of cable, the raise of streaming and the opulence that was lost when the American middle class took a bath in 2006. /shrug

I wouldn't say Disney has ever ignored the importance of streaming. LOST and Desperate Housewives were some of the first TV shows to stream on the internet for free. And Disney was a major investor in HULU. It probably has to do more with whoever is running ESPN not jumping to streaming as fast as ABC did.

Though I don't understand the thing where people think game studios should stay open just to stay open. That isn't healthy.

Though for CEO. I can't wait to see Bob Iger leave. I really want someone from theme parks to run Disney. Especially since I dream of the day when new theme park attractions open again that are original and aren't based on giant IPs.

VelvetElvis

ESPN not going to streaming is probably more tied to the cable providers backdoor deals more so than someone at ESPN/Disney. If ESPN goes provider free, that will be a huge blow to the cable provides. Most people I know, including myself, only really still have cable because of sports. You can stream ESPN now, but you still need a cable provider login.

I guess ESPN is being a bigger drag on Disney's profits than I would have expected to see.

Meloncov

VelvetElvis said:

I guess ESPN is being a bigger drag on Disney's profits than I would have expected to see.

It's affecting expectations far more than profits, at least for now. Disney has actually had growing profits the last few quarters. Howerver, ESPN subscriptions are falling, and that trend looks like it's gonna continue. Investors had counted on Disney having a very safe, reliable source of revenue from ESPN, so that has them spooked.

ambelamba

Disney is, officially, an accounting firm. And their mentality shows in their business decisions. But nobody seems to attack Disney from that angle, pointing out that their business practice can be toxic to themselves in the long run.

In that reason, I am very worried about Star Wars. I am afraid that Disney will eventually (and unintentionally) antagonize the fandom and ruin the SW market value.

praetus

Can't seem to find anything if they're releasing this gold edition for console.  My daughter loves the game so I was sad to see it cancelled.  Might pick up some figures while they're cheap as Toys R Us has them buy one get three free.

Shrike

They most likely cant compete with Skylanders

I once played Skylanders at a friends house and that was about the worst thing Ive ever played in my life.
Children games are one thing, but this is just braindead, there is zero challenge and each time you have to think for a single second
about what to do next to progress, after 2 seconds a NPC tells you exactly what you have to do, its absurd.

There are some puzzles like roll a rock on a button to open a door, basic stuff, which would be fine if they wouldn't tell you instantly what
exactly you have to do "Hey, I think you need to roll the stone on the button" - how children can enjoy that without losing braincells is beyond me. Want to enter this area for the game you paid for? Buy the plant nr 32 character first.. 

They must have done something really wrong if they are losing to this. 

Shrike

Sounds like stupid executives syndrome