In a move that has come from completely left field, Disney has seen fit to cancel its massively popular toys-to-life game Infinity.
In its third iteration with Disney Infinity 3.0, the company brought Star Wars into the fray with characters from the original trilogy, the prequels, as well as the latest entry in the franchise, Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
John Blackburn, SVP & GM of Disney Infinity, took to the Disney Interactive blog to let fans know about the cancellation. In the post titled “An Update on Disney Infinity,” he writes:
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.
Reasoning behind the cancellation are not clear. By all accounts, Disney Infinity was the best-selling toys-to-life genre game, beating out previous record holder Skylanders, raking in $200 million this past fall, thanks in part to the Star Wars play sets.
It is an extremely odd move to see Disney discontinue such a wildly successful product, especially with the ability to tie-in so many future Marvel franchise movies, for example, not including the upcoming Star Wars titles, Pixar films, and other properties. Blackburn does mention, however, that three characters from Alice Through The Looking Glass are launching this month, while a Finding Dory play set is coming in June.
In his close, Blackburn thanks the fans of Disney Infinity who have purchased the company’s toys and software over the years, and sends wishes to the production team as well as software development team at Avalanche Studios who made the games possible.
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.
That cryptic “next chapter” could mean that something is coming soon, though fans shouldn’t be expecting Infinity 4.0, or this announcement would never have been made. Disney has either made the decision to move on with its properties, or it is going to create a brand new platform for the future.
What they decide to do is something fans and gamers alike will just have to wait and see.