Disney Infinity...ENDS!?!

What the heck is going on out there?!?

  • This news is the beginning of a ZOMBIE apocalypse!

    Votes: 3 15.8%

  • This news makes me SAD!

    Votes: 2 10.5%

  • This news makes me GLAD!

    Votes: 10 52.6%

  • Where's the Cheez Whiz?

    Votes: 4 21.1%
  • Total voters
    19
S

Shamus The Brute

One of the most heavily marketed (and corporate-endorsed) game/gaming platform developed by Disney Interactive - Disney Infinity - has ended!?! :hypno:
***Has the world ultimately come to it's end? :confused: What the heck is going on here?!? More importantly, at what point do I shave my head, tear all the clothes that I own, and resort to living on a can of Cheez Wiz for the rest of my life? Mates, I am completely taken back and readily shocked by this news!

Understanding that Disney Infinity served as the spoiled child for Disney at a point-in-time for the company when both mobile and social gaming encompassed Disney's (complete) gaming culture, there was no other game/gaming platform to which Disney poured it's own heart, soul, and money into except - of course - Club Penguin. :rolleyes: As such, I can only say that in light of this news...when the shock does wear off and the adrenaline runs thin...that I might be reminded of just how vocal I have been towards this King of a game which has now died. (In complete and total utter reflection, I do think perhaps a smile :D might actually return back to my face [as the years since D.I.'s implementation that face itself has grown overly stoic with a stupefied expression worn just underneath a few layers of thick epidermis]).

Alas, I'll be truthful here. I sincerely hated Disney Infinity and I felt it to be the completely wrong direction Disney should go with it's own gaming culture. I wonder now, was it wrong for me to think that way? :oops:

With the closing of D.I., it looks as if now there is no current game within Disney's portfolio which implements and focuses upon the Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC) brand. *In hindsight, that is good news for someone like me overly concerned about Disney's want and need to make $money$ off of the POTC brand pertinent to gaming. However as well, it makes feel a bit sad that Captain Jack Sparrow (and others) are not given the amount of adequate attention they deserves as a continual Disney/Disney Interactive intellectual property.

As much as I hate to admit this, such news is a little bittersweet and it makes me wonder how such a popular and specific (game) closing will directly impact Disney Interactive's future (?).

- What do you think?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Benjamin Calicovane said:
Isn't DI the reason Disney shut down the 3 games in September 2013?
Click to expand...
Actually, the reason they gave POTCO, Pixie Hollow, and Toontown players was because they wanted to explore other direction/opportunity based upon consumer demand and needs. *In reality, Disney Infinity was released live within the United States August 18th of 2013 (a whole 'two' days before POTCO, Pixie Hollow, and TTO's announcement closure).

Those whom followed Disney Interactive closely, understood their real intention behind such closures.
 
That was an amazing game and it is a shame to see it leave, and I hope it will get a rewritten version soon. :(
 
What a shame, my little brother LOVES this game. Even though I never really liked Disney Infinity myself, but I do feel for those who do truly love this game.
 
Since POTCO was shut down as a direct result of Infinity (they wanted to spend more money and time on its development) I'm glad to see it buried.
 
While I'm sorry for the players of infinity and the parents who probably invested quite a lot of money in the toys, it was obvious it wasn't going to be a success. Infinity was a borrowed idea following a similar game made by Activision, it was expensive and it had limited content.

It just seems to me Disney make the same mistakes over and over. They don't have the vision, the knowledge of the market or the perseverance to make an AAA game. For Disney I suspect it's always been about the bottom line, which is why they like their mobile games, a quick buck for minimal outlay and fast turnaround.

Such a shame.
 
Kat Truewalker said:
While I'm sorry for the players of infinity and the parents who probably invested quite a lot of money in the toys, it was obvious it wasn't going to be a success. Infinity was a borrowed idea following a similar game made by Activision, it was expensive and it had limited content.

It just seems to me Disney make the same mistakes over and over. They don't have the vision, the knowledge of the market or the perseverance to make an AAA game. For Disney I suspect it's always been about the bottom line, which is why they like their mobile games, a quick buck for minimal outlay and fast turnaround.

Such a shame.
Click to expand...
You hit the Disney problem, right on the nail.

The truth of the matter is, Disney (as a whole) does not really value nor appreciate games. In one sense, they do but that is only if you meet their limited vision of what constitutes a game/gamer (i.e., once they are able to cook something up they hone-in to where the need to make a profit becomes the only and primary catalyst. In this sense, the vision easily becomes a means to an end to where the passion towards developing games is tossed substantially to the waste-side). Unfortunately in business, that does happen a lot of times.

Myself, drawing from my own experience in working for a company the size as Disney, somewhere along the way a corporation can sometimes lose it's own sense of purpose and direction. It's like a curse and the larger the company is the more profit-driven the internal culture becomes which just about every new idea or project brought to the meeting table.

One of the best Disney articles I have read (and I do read a lot of them), was this one below written back in 2012 which describes the mistake Disney Interactive was making and unfortunately continues to make (apologies for how slow the article does load).
http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-going-wrong-with-disneys-interactive-segment-2012-9

*In time, perhaps Disney will realize - for them - that all of the magic which has made them so great...doesn't have to end with the cancelation of some game, it's studio, and massive employee layoffs; shrugs.
 
Kat Truewalker said:
While I'm sorry for the players of infinity and the parents who probably invested quite a lot of money in the toys, it was obvious it wasn't going to be a success. Infinity was a borrowed idea following a similar game made by Activision, it was expensive and it had limited content.

It just seems to me Disney make the same mistakes over and over. They don't have the vision, the knowledge of the market or the perseverance to make an AAA game. For Disney I suspect it's always been about the bottom line, which is why they like their mobile games, a quick buck for minimal outlay and fast turnaround.

Such a shame.
Click to expand...

Shamus The Brute said:
You hit the Disney problem, right on the nail.

The truth of the matter is, Disney (as a whole) does not really value nor appreciate games. In one sense, they do but that is only if you meet their limited vision of what constitutes a game/gamer (i.e., once they are able to cook something up they hone-in to where the need to make a profit becomes the only and primary catalyst. In this sense, the vision easily becomes a means to an end to where the passion towards developing games is tossed substantially to the waste-side). Unfortunately in business, that does happen a lot of times.

Myself, drawing from my own experience in working for a company the size as Disney, somewhere along the way a corporation can sometimes lose it's own sense of purpose and direction. It's like a curse and the larger the company is the more profit-driven the internal culture becomes which just about every new idea or project brought to the meeting table.

One of the best Disney articles I have read (and I do read a lot of them), was this one below written back in 2012 which describes the mistake Disney Interactive was making and unfortunately continues to make (apologies for how slow the article does load).
http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-going-wrong-with-disneys-interactive-segment-2012-9

*In time, perhaps Disney will realize - for them - that all of the magic which has made them so great...doesn't have to end with the cancelation of some game, it's studio, and massive employee layoffs; shrugs.
Click to expand...
Honestly, (IMO) if Disney wants a truly successful and long-lasting MMORPG, they need to hire a team (even a small team) of dedicated MMO gamers (if only as advisors, at least). Some who have been playing MMOs since before let's say 2009. We know what makes and breaks games, we've seen it and experienced it countless times.
 
TorchTheWallet said:
Honestly, (IMO) if Disney wants a truly successful and long-lasting MMORPG, they need to hire a team (even a small team) of dedicated MMO gamers (if only as advisors, at least). Some who have been playing MMOs since before let's say 2009. We know what makes and breaks games, we've seen it and experienced it countless times.
Click to expand...
The challenge is, of course, encouraging and convincing them to do so. In my opinion and if that could be achieved, it's a win-win for everyone involved. ;)

The obstacle is the convincing and there remain various factors (in consideration towards that).
 
Shamus The Brute said:
The challenge is, of course, encouraging and convincing them to do so. In my opinion and if that could be achieved, it's a win-win for everyone involved. ;)

The obstacle is the convincing and there remain various factors (in consideration towards that).
Click to expand...
It's nigh impossible for Disney of all companies to actually do it. I could see Riot (the company that owns League of Legends) hiring a team like that of maybe 10 people, but knowing Riot, they wouldn't actually listen to them the way they should.
 
Shamus The Brute said:
You hit the Disney problem, right on the nail.

The truth of the matter is, Disney (as a whole) does not really value nor appreciate games. In one sense, they do but that is only if you meet their limited vision of what constitutes a game/gamer.
Click to expand...

That was an interesting article, this part especially rings true I think ' The company's most recent game titles show one problem may be a reliance on gearing games toward a younger audience.'

If you look at the games they have produced that have a 10+ rating and the other games out there that are also 10+ ...Plants and Zombies, Need for Speed, Portal etc it's easy to see where Disney might be going wrong. They seem to be still aiming for a specific audience that is shrinking as well as looking for more sophisticated experiences. At the risk of repeating myself, this is what Potco had, that right combination of appeal and unique gameplay for ALL ages and yet they abandoned it, they failed to see the potential and that is deadly in such a competitive market.

To a certain extent they're trapped by their own ethos, they want to be 'family friendly' but their target audience is out there playing games like the ones above and they're failing to provide the content or gameplay that will hook them in. You don't have to have an adult rating to provide a good game but what you do need is great game design.
 
Kat Truewalker said:
...To a certain extent they're trapped by their own ethos, they want to be 'family friendly' but their target audience is out there playing games like the ones above and they're failing to provide the content or gameplay that will hook them in. You don't have to have an adult rating to provide a good game but what you do need is great game design.
Click to expand...
It's too bad Disney cannot figure this out for themselves and it's not as if they haven't been formally reminded of such error...even by us gamers. (Case in point, a few clauses written within the Revive POTCO 'petition letters').
 
I heard about that. My nephew used to play DI quite a bit. I wasn't a big fan but I was surprised when they shut it down. To each their own.
 
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