Disney Infinity arriving in June

Avalanche Software going toe-to-toe with Activision's Skylanders for new "interactive gaming platform" due for release in June on consoles, PC, and mobile.

After months of rumours, Disney Interactive has confirmed the existence of Disney Infinity. Dubbed an "interactive gaming platform" by Disney Interactive co-president John Pleasants, Disney Infinity will be available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Wii U, PC, and mobile this June.

Developed by Toy Story 3 developer Avalanche Software, Disney Infinity will go toe-to-toe with Activision's popular Skylanders series, offering up a series of figures that can interact with the game via a USB-powered device. In Disney Infinity, characters unlock worlds and levels, which are dubbed Playsets by the game.

Disney following up Activision's Skylanders series with one of its own may come as little surprise, as Activision's franchise has minted half a billion dollars since it launched in 2011.

At launch, Disney Infinity will ship with three figures and their associated worlds: Captain Jack Sparrow, Sully, and Mr. Incredible. There will be over 20 characters and additional playsets available at launch, though Disney did not reveal those today.

Disney also committed to adding more characters and playsets "throughout 2013."

So, how does it work? The three playsets on show--The Incredibles, Monsters University, and Pirates of the Caribbean--offer up slightly different types of game but won't allow characters from different universes to play together, though all of Disney Infinity's characters can interact in the game's Toybox. Toybox is a free-form mode which lets gamers build their own world and events while amassing a virtual toy collection by playing through the game's various playsets.

All playsets allow for multiplayer. Dash, Violet, and Mr. Incredible are featured in The Incredibles' playset, an action-themed affair where an alternate ending sees Syndrome continuing his attacks on Metro city, whereas Monsters University pits Mike and Sully against a rival school in a lighter game that lets you roam around scaring people and features a day/night cycle. Finally, The Pirates of the Caribbean Playset pits gamers against Davy Jones and features its own swordfighting mechanics and lets gamers customise their own ships.

All worlds can also be shared online, though each uploaded world will be moderated before being distributed to the community. Drop-in, drop-out online play is also available.

Regarding pricing, Disney will sell a Starter Pack (the game and three figures) for $75. Playset packs will cost $35, with three-figure packs running $30. Individual figures will cost $13, while power disc packs will be available for $5 each.

Martin Gaston
By Martin Gaston, News Editor

Has absolutely never at all had the song from Beauty and the Beast sung to him at any point during his life, ever.

108 comments
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Javier
Javier

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

RiKanKiDD
RiKanKiDD

Haha This looks enjoyable. :)

drgribb
drgribb

This actually sounds pretty cool.  Not that interested in the toys or the collecting, but Disney is always cool, especially their worlds, and the Toy Story 3 game was unexpectedly awesome.  So if the sandbox/toybox feature is anything like it was in that game, this one should be pretty sweet as well.

Not that excited by that price though.  It sounds cool, but not $75 cool.  If I were a kid though, I'd probably be 'bout dat despite the price.

otters123
otters123

I think Activision did very, VERY well with the idea of Skylanders. BUT, I have always been a huge fan of Disney, and that won't ever stop.

Disney Infinity>Skylanders

GO DISNEY!!!!!!!

P.S.: If Disney uses Marvel and Lucasfilm wisely, Activision is screwed!

Johny_47
Johny_47

Oh that looks cool, the Disney part caught my attention.

sdoxas
sdoxas

Song of the South characters, plz.

ExtremePhobia
ExtremePhobia

I saw the trailer and thought it was kind of awesome and now... meh.

GH05T-666
GH05T-666

im sure this will do well like skylanders. 

Pokemon should have done this years ago. i wonder if they will ever.. 

if they did i hope it would only be for the wii u and a pokemon game on that not the original ds/3ds series.

vetalfox
vetalfox like.author.displayName 1 Like

Like it or not - this is the future of kids gaming and toys. You buy a toy to your kid, he goes home, connect it with some video game and play it this way.

I can already see the similar games from Lego, Nintendo, Capcom, Square Enix, Microsoft, Sony, Sega etc.

legend157
legend157

This looks great, but I wasn't a fan of buying extra toys to play as extra characters. 

glitch2424
glitch2424

I know this is aimed at kids, but I prefer characters who aren't already rooted in their own movies (ie, I prefer original ones), b/c for a few reasons:

1) Some of the characters in Disney movies were pretty lame - Mr. Incredible and the one-eye monster from Monsters Inc? Give me Aladdin to do combat with, then we'll talk. Or older Simba.
2) It shows Disney isn't willing to create their own characters from scratch, which mean they're lazy and are feeding off their own past success (major product placement here).
3) playing with ACTUAL monsters just feels more awesome.

BrutalPandaX2
BrutalPandaX2

This looks awesome for kids. Especially the toy box feature.

Vengentz
Vengentz

Marvel is a Disney property now..so this might get interesting.

Chudamaru
Chudamaru

@Vengentz Not just that but they also now own all the Lucas Films properties, Star Wars and Indiana Jones could be in the mix.

jark888
jark888

Hope the graphic is far better than what I see here, so this could become a long lasting game.

kpolicoff
kpolicoff like.author.displayName 1 Like

It sounds like the toys might cost more than Skylanders, but it also appears that the toys contain far more content. I'd be willing to get the toy if it virtually came with a new game. That's a big step up from skylanders. The mention of creating your own content as well... that sounds really huge. Perhaps each character also includes art content from their associated theme that's only available if you've used the character. This might be more of a forced money pit than skylanders is... by far. I'm curious to see how this plays out.

justiceforeall
justiceforeall

 Just saw the pricing, don't know how I missed it the first time, but that is NOT happening these things cost more than skylanders!!!

justiceforeall
justiceforeall

 @ snoos
Agreed, copy cats for sure! Sorry Disney, but for some reason I don't think this will be as good as Skylanders. Disney and Pixar characters just don't seem to be as popular as they once were, at least not for kids 8 and up. Not to mention how much will the characters or sets cost? Skylanders has already ripped off thousands of parents these last couple years, I highly doubt parents will be falling for this again. My son has pretty much all the Skylanders, do you really think I wasted my money on them and will turn around and start collecting these? Ha, yeah right!!! Too far into Skylanders sorry Disney!!!

snoos
snoos

Copy Cats, I care about games not toys u connect 2 games

Megavideogamer
Megavideogamer

DLC for the kids? Disney infinity should make a lot of money. there are almost endless Disney worlds to base figures on.

St0Ne4Ge
St0Ne4Ge like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

Now let's see if there's anything of actual value in this game or if they're just trying to rip off our kids and sell them overpriced junk.

franzito
franzito

Disney games aren't that fun since Kingdom Hearts

megakick
megakick

So no coins, figures and portal like SKYLANDER. One thing Disney has over Activsion better characters. Infinity video shows more then dungeon crawler.

Activision needs to step up there game and put their character in Skylanders.

MVan86
MVan86

Oh dear... We've gotta take action against ideas like this before the concept that consumers are there to be taken for everything they've got spreads wider...

nedrith
nedrith like.author.displayName 1 Like

@MVan86  Absolutely agreed.  The sad part is this is basically where we were headed to when DLC was released.  Companies have learned they can make a lot of money by offering part of a game and then charging you for the rest of the game.  The only difference is Skylanders and now Infinity has taken it to basically the extreme and then made it even more annoying by using a physical object.


thom_maytees
thom_maytees

It is about time that there was a Skylander competitor.

wexorian
wexorian

Who cares if they put star wars, Main danger is  Marvel for activision, They had a Lot More characters to put :)))))

Paulf001
Paulf001

This kind of thing is for kids you can see why adults wouldn't like it.  No reason to keep hating on it when its not meant for you.

ALLoY1717
ALLoY1717

This is Guitar Hero vs Rock Band all over again. Do you think the NFC devices will be cross game compatible? And how long will it be before they are forced to make them so.

WingChopMasta
WingChopMasta like.author.displayName 1 Like

I liked Skylanders. It is an interesting take on the 'collect them all' system. I am actually damn shocked that a Pokemon game didn't go that route...could you imagine? Either way, my son loves it, he earns his Skylanders by helping around the house and spending $10 on a reward is better than buying him a new game all of the time. 

This however, I don't really like it. I love the franchises and the worlds look awesome but the execution just doesn't seem right. Characters can't be played in those characters worlds...wtf?! That would have been an awesome feature. Like Kingdom Hearts. It just worked. 

The toybox mode sounds interesting but for the ages that this is going for, those kids should NOT be on xbox live yet. My son is 10 and the only thing he plays online is Minecraft with me and his mother in the same house. 

I will keep my eye out but I just do not like it at the moment.

boarwar
boarwar like.author.displayName 1 Like

wait.....disney, using merchandising, to milk hundreds of dollars from parents? SHOCKING.

woodyfr
woodyfr

@boarwar Still not very original. They don't care anymore about videos games exept for easy cash like this future game, it's sad but it's Di$ney.

XeonForce
XeonForce like.author.displayName 1 Like

The direction the gaming industry has decided to turn is insulting to gamers' intelligence.

blueboxdoctor
blueboxdoctor

As much as I was interested in this game prior to this news, most of that excitement is gone.  All I want to do is buy a game, play a game, complete a full game.  If they want to sell these physical DLC characters fine, but have them be outside of the full game story and all that.  Make them an expansion, not bits and pieces of a full game, this is just as bad as a lot of F2P and micro-transactions, except the free part is gone.

Rattlesnake_8
Rattlesnake_8

lol Skylanders is an obvious money pit, which seems to have worked. Why not copy it.. it is a fad and will die out. Better to jump on the band wagon before it's too late. Hopefully they will use some of the profit to make the new Star Wars movies decent.

As for buying this, or Skylanders.. lol no way. I'll buy a game, but I'm not going to pay for each character to unlock quests.

Coco_pierrot
Coco_pierrot like.author.displayName 1 Like

So in all it is a DLC fest disguises under plastic crap

DragonMage2k4
DragonMage2k4

Since they now own the properties, Disney Interactive can eventually add the Marvel and Lucas Arts (and possibly Kingdom Hearts) characters to the Disney Infinity game. I know those will sell as well as the Disney-Pixar Characters.

Aletunda
Aletunda

i would have liked it if the characters could go into eachothers worlds, havent gotten skylanders so maybe i'll hold out for this, i love pixar and disney

_Silent_Jay_
_Silent_Jay_ like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

Hmmm... Star Wars Infinity and Marvel Infinity?  Yeah, I think Activision might have something to worry about.

ALLoY1717
ALLoY1717 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 3 Like

@_Silent_Jay_ 

You sir have just given Disney a multi million dollar business idea. +1 to you. 

Marvel makes so much sense in this form that it is a little scary.

gamerboy100
gamerboy100

"The three playsets on show--The Incredibles, Monsters University, and Pirates of the Caribbean--offer up slightly different types of game but won't allow characters from different universes to play together, though all of Disney Infinity characters can interact in the game's Toybox."

Wait, so the levels in the game won't be playable unless you have required characters? That's just as bad as on-disc DLC.

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