Disney has released its yearly earnings report today; showing a 3.5 percent decrease in shares over the past twelve months. For gaming fans, today is a sad day, though, as Disney announced in this earnings report that it is no longer going to be publishing games, and will be discontinuing its Disney Infinity line of games and figures after the release of Finding Dory’s play set.
This news comes two months after it was reported by Kotaku that there will be no new Disney Infinity version release this year after the developer released yearly Edition updates since the game launched in 2013. There is a bright spot for Disney Infinity fans, however, as there will be two new releases in May and June before the series is entirely done. The first will be based on the new Alice through the Looking Glass film while the second will be for the release of Finding Dory.
The news first hit on Twitter when it was announced by Ben Fritz, a journalist at the Wall Street Journal; however GM Blackburn also responded to the news on Disney Interactive’s blog, stating –
“From the beginning, Disney Infinity was built for you—our fans—and I wanted to take a moment to thank you not just for your support over the years, but for creating a community that made Disney Infinity more than just a game.
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. We hope you had as much fun playing the game as we had making it.”
As a part of closing Disney’s “Self-Published Console Games business,” Ben Fritz also announced on Twitter that Disney would be closing Avalanche Studios in Utah, which would cause roughly 300 jobs to be cut as a part of this closure.
While Disney’s earnings report for the quarter was somewhat disappointing, the outlook is good for Disney if the numbers for Captain America: Civil War’s $182 million domestic opening, and its other media properties are anything to go by.
Sources: The Walt Disney Company, Kotaku, Ben Fritz (on Twitter) (2), Disney Interactive, CNBC,