Disney has always intrigued its fans by creating immersive and unique content. But recently, a news has taken the fans aback with surprise, followed by an unwilling goodbye.
Disney Infinity, which was famed among fans who preferred collecting little figurines to go along with their games, brought characters from Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars and Frozen to life in the gaming sector. But now, the company will be ceasing its services and will also be shutting down its (main) developing studio, Avalanche Software.
Disney Infinity, SVP and GM, John Blackburn, revealed in a blog post, “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.”
The decision seems to be an effect of the second quarter loss the company faced, which is around $147 million, mainly owing to the huge number of unsold products.
Disney, chairman of consumer products and interactive media, Jimmy Pitaro asserted in a statement, that the company would be moving “exclusively to a licensing model”, which suggests that the Disney games might continue releasing, but from other companies, as and when they receive a licence from Disney, much like they did with Star Wars while bestowing the rights to EA. Further adding to the point is that, around 300 jobs would be cut down with the shutdown of the Salt Lake city based Avalanche Sofware, which Disney had acquired in 2005.
Following the news, Disney, CEO, Robert Iger stated his views on the closure by saying, “We just feel it is a changing space and that we’re just better of managing the risk of that business by licensing instead of publishing,” further adding, “The truth of the matter is that the risk we cited when we initially started this, finally caught up with us.”
Still, the company will release two final products from the line which will include three more chapters from Alice Through the Looking Glass and the Finding Dory play set in June.
However, nothing has yet been revealed on how or if Disney plans to support the titles in the near future. We will just have to wait for it as with this move Disney would completely cease publishing of console games.