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Disney cuts console publishing, doubles down on mobile

Disney Infinity line killed off as 300 lose jobs

Disney cuts console publishing, doubles down on mobile

Disney has announced the cancellation of its toys-to-life Disney Infinity series, effectively ending all involvement in the console games business outside of licensing.

Disney subsidiary Avalanche Software, developer of Disney Infinity, has consequently been shuttered at the expense of 300 jobs.

Going mobile

The upshot, then, is a continued focus on licensing - an initiative that has seen hit mobile games such as EA's Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes and Kabam's Marvel: Contest of Champions emerge - and a continuation of game publishing activity on mobile only.

The most recent example of this is March's Marvel: Avenger's Alliance 2, which was both developed and published by Disney.

Chris Heatherly, SVP and GM of Disney Interactive Games, previously told PocketGamer.biz that its strategy was "a combination of internal talent, working with the best external indie developers, and then licensing with the big guys.”

With that strategy proving so successful in 2015, it seems there's no room for console publishing anymore.


Features Editor

Matt is really bad at playing games, but hopefully a little better at writing about them. He's Features Editor for PocketGamer.biz, and has also written for lesser publications such as IGN, VICE, and Paste Magazine.