Wednesday, May 11, 2016

'Disney Infinity' to be Discontinued in June

Infinite? Endless? Not anymore...
Yesterday was a heartbreaking day for Disney Infinity fans everywhere, myself included. We got an official announcement saying that Disney Infinity is being discontinued this June. Just as it was getting good as well....

I decided to wait a day to talk about this on here so I can get all of my thoughts straight. If any of you are following me on Twitter, you probably saw something of a mental breakdown from me on there. In fact, all the real fans of the game had mental breakdowns of their own by the looks of it! So, rather than just writing about the cancellation immediately on here once the news came out and just bringing you all yet another mental breakdown of sorts, I wanted to wait a little bit to organize my thoughts and give my real opinions.


So, Disney Infinity... Where do I begin? In case you didn't know, Disney Infinity is a video game in the Toys-to-life genre, a concept where you would buy figures of Disney characters and the they could come to life in the Disney Infinity game. It's easily been one of my favorite games these past 3 years. It wasn't without some major flaws, but I loved having these very well made figures of so many amazing Disney characters that I can even play with in a video game! It was an ingenious concept. High quality collectible Disney figures with video game functionality? It was a Disney fan's dream come true! But unfortunately, the concept never reached its full potential.

I'm referring to the fact that there were simply not enough figures and playsets from classic Disney animated films, and far too many Marvel and Star Wars figures. Not to mention its crucial gameplay flaws. Frame rate drops, glitches, a complex interface, gameplay that could get rather clunky at times and many other flaws. These problems were slightly improved upon in newer versions of the game, but never perfected. And now, they never will...


But back to the figures themselves. Like I said before, there were not enough characters from Disney animated films. There wasn't even a single playset for a Disney animated film! In a game called Disney Infinity, that's pretty sad! The game was supposed to be "for the fans" but rarely did they take our suggestions to heart. But the lack of true Disney characters was another thing they were improving on! They were finally starting to release more classic Disney characters and we were supposed to be getting a playset from a Disney animated film (most likely Moana), but now that isn't going to happen!

So pretty much, one of my favorite games, gone, just like that. In one single, sudden announcement that changed everything. I think we should have gotten an extra year or two after this announcement where they would just release all the figures we ever wanted and then stop production on a really high note. That would have been epic! Instead, we are given a lame sudden discontinuation that does not give this amazing game the send off it deserves.

And what is the reasoning behind discontinuing Disney Infinity? Surely a game this amazing would have a damn good reason to stop being made! But no, this game was cancelled because it was not making enough money! That's right folks, even though it was one of the most popular Toys-to-Life games on the market, in Disney's eyes, the game was a failure! That is corporate greed at its finest and now, not only is this the end of a great, unique gaming experience for all of us dedicated fans out there, but it's the end of Disney making console games as a whole! Now they are focusing on mobile apps instead. Although, I must say, every console game Disney made, aside from Disney Infinity, was pretty terrible so I'm glad we will not be seeing any lame movie video games coming from them.

Now, with Disney Infinity coming to an end, what do us Disney fans have to collect? Well, thankfully, there's still a lot! To give one example, I have been getting more into the Disney Funko Pops as of late so there's that. But if you're looking for a Disney collectible that also has a certain type of functionality, you're out of luck. I would love to at least see them still make figures that are in the Disney Infinity style, but would not have any gameplay functionality because the Disney Infinity figures are extremely well made and are great to collect! But there are still plenty of other Disney collectible toys out there for all of us to indulge in, and there's also amiibo and Lego Dimensions if you want some non-Disney Toys-to-Life figures that have some really cool and unique functionality. I myself have quite the large amiibo collection that is still growing and I hope to get into Lego Dimensions really soon.


I am very saddened to see Disney Infinity go, but such is fate. A lot of people were predicting this would happen, but to see Disney go through with this is simply heartbreaking. The game brought us a unique gaming experience and created countless wonderful memories and a community of fans unlike any other. I'm really going to miss Disney Infinity and I wish all the best to the 300 people who lost their jobs after this announcmeent.

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