Disney Infinity is a wonderfully charming franchise with many ups and downs, the first game started the franchise out strong, it then fell backwards for the second entry, then finally rose up in a big way for the third and unfortunately final installment in the Disney Infinity franchise. Previously it had been revealed that the franchise would be taking a one year hiatus to only come back stronger in 2017, this however is no longer the case with the shocking news that has today surfaced.
I don’t think anyone besides Disney could have seen this coming, but the company has reached the end of an era as they are shutting down Disney Infinity and with it Avalanche Software. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Avalanche has been around since 1995, developing games such as Tak, Chicken Little, Cars and many more. Around 300 jobs are expected to be lost in the closure.
This is not just affecting Disney Infinity however, this affects the future of Disney properties on consoles as the company will no longer be a console game publisher and developer. There will still be some Disney games but these will be handled under a licensing model, officially Disney Interactive Entertainment is no more and what a sad day this is.
There will be two final releases for Disney Infinity, including three more characters from Alice Through the Looking Glass and a Finding Dory Playset in June. Then just as the franchise was rising to greatness it falls into the shadows. The worst part here is that Disney Infinity was proving to be a sales juggernaut and was even stealing some of Skylander’s thunder, I can’t say I understand Disney’s thinking here.
