Disney is done with game publishing, cancels 'Disney Infinity'
It's been a fun ride for Disney Infinity, but all good things must come to an end.
Disney confirmed in its latest earnings report Tuesday that it will no longer self-publish console games -- and there's a strong implication that Infinity, its proprietary toys-to-life platform that included Marvel, Star Wars and other playsets, is finished.
The company is reporting a $147 million loss in its second quarter earnings as a result of that shift.
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The move is a surprise, coming just two months after Disney confirmed that Infinity would expand in 2016 around themed add-on packs, starting with the Smash Bros.-esque arena fighting of Marvel Battlegrounds. Pixar, Disney and Star Wars-themed packs were to follow later in the year.
Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed the Infinity news during the Q&A portion of the investor call.
"That business is a changing business," he said, referring to the "toys-to-life" category of games that includes Infinity, along with Lego Dimensions and Skylanders. "You ... take on substantially more risk, particularly when it comes to manufacturing and managing the toy inventory, of that business."
Iger took a moment to praise Infinity, calling it a "good product" and talking up the strong performance of the first and second games.
"I give the developer a lot of credit for the product that they made," he said. "But we knew going in that there would be a lot of risk with this product, and the fact that we did so well initially gave us the confidence to continue with it.
"The truth of the matter is that the risks that we saw at the beginning when we started this caught up with us."
Mashable can confirm that Disney will be shutting down Avalanche Software, the studio that created Infinity. The closure means that approximately 300 jobs will be cut.
We're also able to confirm that Disney still intends to release a number of planned add-ons for Infinity. Specifically, expect to see a playset in June based on the upcoming Pixar film Finding Dory and, later this month, three character figurines from Alice Through the Looking Glass.
The $147 million loss, dubbed the "Infinity Charge," was "primarily due to an inventory write-down." Which is to say, Disney reduced the value of its Infinity assets, likely due to an excess of unsold product.
A new update on the Avalanche website thanks Infinity fans for their support and confirms both the game's cancellation and the coming final add-ons.
Mashable has reached out to Disney for additional details.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
