Ten Reasons Why EA Should Save Disney Infinity
Three years ago Disney sought out a way to bring the magic and imagination that permeates its movies and theme parks to gamers young and old alike through their ambitious Toys to Life product, Disney Infinity. For the past three years Disney has built a platform in which childhood fantasies could be realized as gamers could soar over Sleeping Beauty’s Castle as Tinkerbell, fly through San Fransokyo as Baymax, swing along the rooftops as Spiderman, and lead a Death Star trench run as Luke Skywalker. Beyond living out these iconic fantasies, Disney Infinity empowered children and the young at heart to build like a Disney imagineer, melding the worlds of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars together in unprecedented fashion from the comfort of their own couch. Worlds were created by young and old alike that allowed Stitch to become an honorary Rebel pilot, Malificent to square off against Avengers, and Elsa to race Mickey through the deserts of Tatooine. What was created was, at its core, nothing short of Disney magic.
However, the Disney magic was not immune to the troubles of modern business. Brand new products are rarely ever perfect when they are first released. The game’s core gameplay underwent refinement through its three iterations from clunky and buggy to smooth and responsive. Similarly, the game’s creative suite received much needed upgrades in its interface and ease of accessibility. Growing pains aside, it was the underproduction of inventory for its first iteration and compensatory overproduction of figure inventory during its second iteration that ultimately resulted in the project’s untimely demise. With millions of dollars of surplus inventory from its 2.0 edition, even the success of Disney Infinity 3.0 could not save the platform.
As Disney announced the closure of Avalanche Software last week and the decision to no longer publish games on their own, investors let out a sigh of relief while a dedicated fanbase mourned a great loss. One need not look far to find examples of how the news devastated loyal fans of the game. If you are one who gets a little teary eyed while watching Pixar films like myself, you may have difficulties handling the personal heartbreak expressed on the disneyinfinityfans.com
As moving as the experiences are, I could not help but feel a petition for Disney to backpedal on its decision would be fruitless. Disney has clearly taken a new stance with regards to where they are investing their time and money. They are going back to their roots of creating cinematic classics and the aggressive expansion of their Disney Parks. In many ways, I understand and appreciate them going back to what they do best while they allow others to license Disney properties for games. But that hardly means I am ready to give up on the game Avalanche Software created and the incredible community that supports it. After a couple of days of contemplation, I have come to the realization that a partnership between Disney and gaming giant Electronic Arts presents the best opportunity for the series to survive. While it’s clear an EA revival would be great for fans and may help Disney save face in times of criticism, this deal also makes all the sense in the world for EA.
Below are ten reasons a Disney Infinity revival by EA makes sense for the publisher:
1. Disney Infinity has been documented as the highest earning franchise in the Toys to Life segment recently. Two hundred million dollars in sales last fall with the release of Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars is impressive…most impressive. EA would be foolish not to jump at the chance to add such an established product to their portfolio. This is especially true when you consider the alternative being allowing their chief publishing rival Activision to continue with their Skylanders line with minimal competition. You can also look at EA’s track record of acquiring known entities such as Tiburon, Bioware, Maxis, Westwood, Bullfrog, etc and continuing with their established franchises with successful sales.
2. EA has close ties to Disney now. EA’s Star Wars Battlefront has been a tremendously successful partnership between the two powerhouses as the game has sold more than fourteen million units. EA has exclusive licensing rights to Star Wars games for the foreseeable future, and has never been a stranger to pursuing exclusive rights, whether it is Star Wars or the NFL. EA partnering with the entire Disney brand presents more opportunities for them while simultaneously taking the Disney brand away from prospective competitors. An EA partnership could even lead to an EA presence within Disney Parks.
3. The addition of Disney games, chiefly Disney Infinity, would allow EA to publish games to a demographic they don’t currently represent strongly in their current console game portfolio. EA has a strong presence in action games, sports games, RPGs, etc. The family/kid friendly game genre is a great opportunity to further diversify and potentially create brand recognition with their target audience at a younger age.
4. EA would have comparatively little work to do with regards to keeping Infinity up and running. The foundation of the game has already been created by Avalanche. They can create their own team of former Avalanche employees and designers from their various subsidiaries for an arguably more well balanced team than what Avalanche built on their own. We cannot forget how many outside developers were brought in to assist the Avalanche team with the last two iterations of Infinity. Outside consulting and project delegation is costly in most industries. EA is better suited to keep everything in house to cut costs and improve efficiency. Furthermore a number of 2016 projects including a Peter Pan figure, Moana Playset, and Star Wars: Rogue One Playset are already in various stages of completion based on reports.
5. EA can afford the risk. If you follow their financial statements, EA had an incredibly fruitful fiscal year. Right now investors and EA leaders are happy. When investors and leaders are happy with performance, companies like EA are in a better position to take “risks,” which some may label Toys to Life is, though I would disagree as there is still ample room to innovate and reinvigorate the segment. Nonetheless, of all the game publishers, EA is one of just a couple with the resources to make this type of deal happen.
6. EA is better suited to operate a production on the scale of Infinity than Disney Interactive was. While Disney Interactive had years of financial turmoil as a game publisher before Disney Infinity, EA has decades of successful game publishing from a financial perspective. As alluded to before, they also have a wealth of developers under the EA umbrella that can lend developmental help to Disney Infinity rather than outsourcing. I can only imagine how Infinity could evolve if you had developers from DICE or EA Sports lending assistance. Who wants to see a first person camera in Infinity with Iron Man’s HUD? Who wants to see NBA Jam style basketball mechanics so we can see Mr Incredible go up to dunk a basketball only to be frozen in midair by Elsa? Honestly the prospect of combining Disney’s numerous properties with EA’s game development resources should be enough to make Activision and Warner Bros Interactive tremble.
7. EA has the benefit of of hindsight. EA can easily see the missteps that doomed Disney Interactive and Avalanche Software, most notably the overproduction of inventory if recently released reports are accurate. With a clean slate and a better understanding of realistic sales expectations, a company can make even a niche market successful.
8. EA can gain substantial positive publicity by being Disney Infinity’s “savior.” EA was a once reviled company unlike any other, earning the dubious distinction of Most Hated Company two years in a row. In the past few years, EA has made tremendous strides to change public perception. However, EA’s standing amongst gamers is still far from perfect. For many, EA remains the evil Empire of the gaming industry. Reviving a dead product for a devoted fanbase is a sure fire way to earn the adoration of fans, while also reshaping general consumer attitudes towards the corporate giant. One need not look far to see how Netflix continues to gain positive press when saving shows with passionate followings like Arrested Development, Longmire, and The Gilmore Girls. In addition to rescuing a beloved game for children and families, a resurrection plan could also save a number of the three hundred jobs that were lost with the closure of Avalanche Software.
9. EA has to realize Disney products offer a stable flow of income as long as Disney continues to produce box office hits that excite children, parents, and everyone in between. Disney has been nothing short of spectacular with regards to their film releases as of late considering they own four of the top ten box office earners from 2015 (Star Wars TFA, Avengers Age of Ultron, Inside Out, and Cinderella). 2016 looks to match that pace with Disney owning three of the top five spots thus far (Zootopia, Jungle Book, and Captain America Civil War). Keep in mind another MCU and Star Wars installment will be here by the holiday season. Plus Disney’s cinematic plans include at least two MCU and a Star Wars installment every year for the foreseeable future in addition to their typical slate of Disney live action, Disney Animation Studios, and Disney Pixar productions. If the movies are popular kids and collectors will want to have the toys, games, and other tie-ins that come with it.
10. EA has an opportunity to further add to its legacy in the history of the gaming industry by taking Toys to Life to the next level. Super Mario Bros was not the first platformer but Nintendo will forever be recognized for how they perfected it. Doom was not the first FPS but it will forever remembered for how it pushed the genre mainstream. World of Warcraft was not the first MMORPG but it will forever be known for how it defined the genre. Activision’s Skylanders is the originator of the Toys to Life segment, but that doesn’t mean they have to go down in history as being the ones who did it best. EA has a legacy established in the juggernaut that is EA Sports. But no world-class competitor, individual or corporate, is ever satisfied with what they have already achieved. A competitor always looks ahead for a new challenge and new opportunities to leave a mark on history. Now EA has an opportunity, at the crossroads of gaming history to either ignore the call or to step up and take the Toys to Life segment to infinity and beyond.
On behalf of all Disney Infinity fans, I say help us EA…you’re our only hope…
Jack V
#savedisneyinfinity
I second that motion!
There is one problem I have with EA saving Infinity. It is a great idea to save Infinity, but if EA saves it, what about Wii U Infinity fans? EA has made it clear they no longer make games for Wii U. Being a Wii U owner, I rather not see EA get their hands on Infinity. If anyone is a Wii U Infinity player, be sure to keep that in mind.
I’m sorry if I sound negative, the way EA is just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I’d love to see Infinity continue, maybe with a different company. Can’t think of one at the moment.
I hate EA, but I would rather them take it over then it be done for good, plus I do think they can improve it. Plus adding to that other guys comment, infinity is already available for Wii u, so EA can’t just shut it down, and by the time 4.0 comes out Nintendo will have another console and they wouldn’t have made it for Wii u anyway.
Has this prompting gone any further with EA?
Disney are crazy giving up on this platform, so much freedom to advertise new Disney. Products and movies upon login banners and so forth!
We love this game, but with no online content, development nor multiplayer it gets a bit repetitive and boring.
Can’t have everything and Wii is not the most optimal platform for this game, so if one piece of hardware is obsolete, you still have the characters and crystals that are cross platform
Still our favourite game ever made!
Massive shame that it ended! but we have managed to pick up a few of the figs we need for £2.99
Bought the hatter today! Disney needed to keep focus on classics! And just how well would a bell and beast figure be selling right now!
No Snow White n cinderller this is were it went wrong
After hearing EA’s way of lying to everything recently this year, I’d say no… just no please (and I know this was a few years late)
And I wouldn’t want EA to put in filthy loot boxes into the game (and now they are gonna call it “Surprise Mechanics”), and If EA decides to buy the Disney Infinity rights, EA is gonna be my worst enemy