If you only read the headlines this week, you might conclude that Disney’s decision to shut its Infinity toy-game business means that it’s exiting the console game business. Or that toys-to-life genre of physical toys and digital games is dead. Or that Disney will only use external studios to make its games now. You might very well conclude that Mickey Mouse has given up on gaming altogether.
But none of those things are true. Disney shut down the 250-person Avalanche studio in Salt Lake City and laid off another 50 people supporting it. It will roll out two more Infinity playsets, and then it will be done with toys-to-life. But that still leaves Activision’s Skylanders, Nintendo’s Amiibo, and Warner Bros.’ Lego Dimensions as major players in the billion-dollar-plus category that only got its start in 2011.
GamesBeat