In what is surely to be shocking to many, Disney has announced that it is cancelling Disney Infinity.
Disney reported it’s quarterly earnings today and in the report Disney announced that it is cancelling it’s Disney Infinity game line which will result in a $147 million charge. Going forward, Disney will liscense it’s characters to to third party gaming production companies.
From CNBC:
The company added that “lower results” for Infinity contributed to operating income in its consumer products and interactive media segment falling 8 percent year over year to $357 million.
From John Blackburn, Senior Vice President and GM of Disney Interactive:
By now you may have heard the news that we have made the difficult decision to discontinue production of Disney Infinity. 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.
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.
So what’s next for Disney Infinity? We have two final retail releases coming, including three new characters from Alice Through the Looking Glass later this month, and the Finding Dory Play Set launching in June.
And as we turn to the next chapter in our story, 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.
But most of all, I want to again thank you for making Disney Infinity a part of your lives—and for adding to the Disney legacy by being a part of this community.
Source: Disney Interactive, CNBC
I, and other parents I know specifically kept our kids away from Disney Infinity knowing this was coming sooner or later, as it did with Disney’s VMK (to which my oldest lost her heart when they shut it down.) Disney’s Software division hasn’t learned how to create a base, and keep it, and never will.