There is an end to Infinity, after all. After leveraging brands that include Stars Wars, Marvel, Pixar and Disney characters into the Disney Infinity gaming line, Disney Interactive announced this week that it was pulling out of the console business and will now shift to a licensing model, shutting down developer Avalanche Software. The company will still unveil two final releases with “Alice Through the Looking Glass” later this month, and the “Finding Dory Play Set,” launching in June. The company revealed during its quarterly results call that it would absorb $147 million from the franchise due to lower results. “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,” said John Blackburn, SVP and GM of Disney Infinity. “We hope you had as much fun playing the game as we had making it.”
“I’m really surprised that Disney couldn’t make a big profit at this level,” Michael Pachter, video-game analyst at Wedbush Securities told Bloomberg. “It’s great news for Activision, as they are the last man standing in a market with more than $1 billion of annual demand.”