Disney Infinity – Looking Back At 2014
2014 has been an interesting year for Disney Infinity, its been the first full year that Disney Infinity has been available and the launch of Disney Infinity 2.0. I’m going to take a stroll through memory lane and look back on the year as a whole. Throughout the year, the weekly Toy Box challenges have kept bringing us back into the game and there have been some fantastic toy boxes through the year, its the one thing that keeps Disney Infinity up to date, there is always something new.
The first quarter of 2014 was mainly about Disney putting out the last few figures and power discs for the first game, April kicked off with Series 3 and Regular & Crystal Agent P figures plus Phineas releases. Also during the first quarter, the PC and Apple IOS versions came out, allowing the game to a much larger audience and the PC version even got its own Digital exclusive, in the form of Glow in the Dark Buzz Lightyear. The UK also saw the launch of the monthly Infinity magazine. But in general, January to mid April, was a pretty quiet affair.
Then April hit, Disney Infinity 2.0 was announced at a special event in Los Angeles and we found out that the Marvel Super Heroes would be arriving, with announcements for the Avenger characters like Iron Man, Captain America etc. We also got a little sneak peek at Spider-Man, Groot and Rocket Raccoon plus some Disney characters like Stitch and Merida. This news sent the Infinity world into orbit and Disney did a great job in building up hype for the new game, with constant new trailers and announcements afterwards, but Disney’s decision to live stream the announcement was a great boost as fans around the globe got to take part in the event. It was a very different affair to the launch of the original game in 2013, Disney were trying their best to keep the news flowing and to keep secrets and surprised back for the fans.
Over the summer, Disney used the San Diego Comic Con and E3 to further announcements for the game such as announcing the Ultimate Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy play sets and figures. Marvel was at the core of 2.0 and Disney made sure everybody knew that.
However there another side of 2.0 that was building momentum, the Disney Originals, throughout the summer, Disney continued to tease fans with Disney character announcements coming throughout the summer, including at a special screening of the Maleficent movie for D23 members. Throughout the summer we found out the main Disney figures such as Donald Duck, Aladdin and others, but there was a real feeling of the inclusion of Marvel wasn’t going down as well as Disney had hoped. Disney fans continued to demand information on what Disney characters and more importantly, what Disney play sets would be coming for 2.0. Throughout the summer we slowly found out more about 2.0, little sneaks here and there, with many retailers posting listings of figures going on sale before Disney announced them.
One of the biggest disappointments for Infinity fans was the constant dropping of Gravity Falls hints, only for them to be just Toy Box toys and power discs. It has probably been the most requested and most asked question in 2014, Where is the Disney?, Disney kept trying to keep fans happy with the announcements of figures and power discs, but with Marvel taking centre stage, many fans grew impatient and angry about the lack of Disney in 2.0. Even months after release, it is still a very sore point for Infinity fans.
From April till Launch, was a very busy time for Disney Infinity 2.0 and one of the biggest events of the year was the first ever Toy Box Summit, which took place at the Avalanche studios in Utah, where they flew out many of the top Toy Box Artists to take part in a 24 hour challenge to show off Disney Infinity 2.0. This was one of the highlights of the pre-launch events as real fans got to test out 2.0 in detail and with the added bonus of live streaming, those of us at home, got to enjoy the action and see 2.0 in all its glory.
As the launch got closer, the questions about the Disney side of 2.0 continued to grow, especially with the news of a second starter pack featuring Stitch & Merida was leaked and that it didn’t contain a play set. This Toy Box Starter Pack caused a lot of confusion amongst fans and the delayed launch until November for the Disney side continued to bring lots of complaints and confusion to 2.0.
Disney had a number of issues with information being leaked throughout the year, from retailers putting up items for pre-order when they hadn’t been announced, companies putting up competition prizes of unannounced items, trailer videos breaking online early and a PC update blowing their own surprise, Disney did try their best to keep the surprises coming and keep interest high.
Once 2.0 launched, things settled down quickly with people enjoying the Marvel side and getting to grips with the new figures and play sets. Allowing most Infinity fans time to enjoy the Marvel side before the Disney Originals launch in November. This also tied in with the PC and Digital download version of the game being released. However news on the IOS version took a little longer to surface with a rather generic “Holidays” time frame put to it. Also during November, we saw some big discounts on many Infinity items for Black Friday and a number of surprise power disc albums coming out.
Issues with many of the toys within the Toy Box put a damper on many toy box creations and there were multiple patches to address issues, which was a constant theme to many of the other big video game releases of 2014.
There were still some surprises to come, with word coming out about 2 unannounced Disney figures fueling the rumour mill, though a PC update allowed us to see two Tron figures and Power Discs. And then at the Playstation Experience, Disney announced there would be a Vita version coming out in May with a exclusive Black Spider-Man variant.
2014 was an interesting year for the Vinylmation Kingdom team, with the expansion and popularity, Infinity has become a major part of the site, our Facebook Group continued to grow, as did our Youtube channel, plus we launched our own Webcast with Abe & Roger discussing all the latest Disney Infinity items in a weekly show. Throughout 2014, as a team, we attended many events and tried to give the best coverage possible, which we plan to continue to do, throughout 2015.
What do you think of 2014?