The fallout from last week’s shocking announcement that Disney is cancelling Disney Infinity has been predictable. Fans have launched online petitions that are unlikely to sway Disney’s minds. Stores have started to move their backlog of Infinity toys to the clearance racks. And, most cruelly of all, word has leaked out of future Infinity plans that will now never see the light of day.
We know that the final Infinity releases will be a series of three figures based on Tim Burton’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, which will be out next week, and a playset tied into Finding Dory in June. Other than those projects no other Infinity releases had been officially announced before the cancellation, although a now-cancelled Peter Pan figure was known to be in the pipeline due to its winning a poll last year. Disney Interactive and Avalanche Software, the shuttered studio behind Disney Infinity, had previously hinted at a variety of upcoming projects, but nothing was confirmed. Thanks to Patrick Klepek at Kotaku, we know what some of those plans involved.
Disney Infinity’s future would have included new 12-inch versions of some of the best-received Infinity figures. These giants would’ve supposedly included Darth Vader, Elsa, Buzz Lightyear, the Hulkbuster version of Iron Man and more, and would’ve had different abilities within the game. Playsets were planned for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the Star Wars anthology film coming out this year, and Walt Disney Animation’s upcoming feature Moana. And, in what might be the biggest blow for both Infinity fans and people who were interested in the series but didn’t like how characters were isolated to specific playsets outside of the toy box mode, the next full version of the game, tentatively planned for 2017, would have had a new story mode that united all of Disney Infinity’s various IP pillars, including Pixar, Disney, Marvel and Star Wars. It sounds like Disney Infinity would’ve finally fully embraced the shared universe ethos four years after it first launched.
Klepek talked to a few sources who worked on the game and have detailed knowledge of future plans, and you should definitely read his piece for all the details. If you were excited about Disney Infinity, though, get ready to feel a little sad about what could have been.