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Disney quits video games as it cancels Infinity

The word ‘Disney’ seems to be synonymous with everything happy and child-friendly, but the company wasn’t feeling the love last night. During its second quarter earnings release, the company revealed that it is quitting the self-publishing video games industry and also cancelled its ‘Infinity’ series indefinitely.

It didn’t go into too much detail, but it vaguely said that the series would be cancelled due to poor sales – forcing it to take a rather hefty knock in terms of cash.

“Lower operating income was primarily due to the impact of foreign currency translation due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against major currencies, lower operating margins and comparable store sales at our retail business and lower results for Infinity,” it said in the earnings statement.

In the same statement it said that cancelling the Infinity series is going to cost the company around $147 million, which it called the Infinity Charge.

“The Infinity Charge was primarily due to an inventory write-down. The charge also included severance and other asset impairments and was reported in “Cost of products” in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Income.”

Disney launched the Infinity series three years ago to compete with toys-to-life title Skylanders from Beenox, and LEGO Dimensions The series included characters from almost every Disney franchise, like Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters University and Toy Story.

“Our goal for Disney Infinity was to bring the best of Disney storytelling to life in homes around the world, and with your support we accomplished that. We hope you had as much fun playing the game as we had making it,” explained Disney’s John Blackburn in a blog post.

What is next for the franchise? Well, you don’t have to despair just yet. Blackburn added that Disney has two final retail releases coming: three new characters from Alice Through the Looking Glass later this month, and the Finding Dory Play Set launching in June.

And then that will be it.

“And as we turn to the next chapter in our story, I want to thank everyone who helped bring Disney Infinity to life… But most of all, I want to again thank you for making Disney Infinity a part of your lives—and for adding to the Disney legacy by being a part of this community.”

We reviewed that last Infinity title, Disney Infinity 3.0 in October, which featured a Star Wars theme.

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