Disney Announces Infinity Game ‘Toy Box’ — With A Range Of Characters And Physical Figurines — For Console, Mobile, And Web

Disney executives just took the stage at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, where they just announced Disney Infinity, a game platform that’s set to launch in June.

The details of the platform are still emerging, but Co-President of Disney Interactive John Pleasants has already shared the big ideas. Infinity will “bring together the best of Disney IP, past, present, and future.” It won’t just be a single game, but rather a “new, interactive gaming platform” — more like a toy box allowing consumers to create the environments and stories that they want. It will be cross-platform, available on consoles, mobile devices, and online, and it will also incorporate physical figurines.

Pleasants said the “play sets” launching in June will incorporate three different Disney franchises: Monsters University, The Incredibles, and Pirates of the Caribbean. The launch will include other, yet-to-be-announced characters, he added.

Disney Chief Creative Officer John lasseter took the stage after Pleasants, where he emphasized the idea of Infinity as a toy box. He said he initially resisted the idea of throwing all of Disney’s characters into in one game, but he warmed up to it when he thought of it as kids playing with different toys.

John Blackburn (yes, there were a lot of John’s on-stage today), CEO of Disney’s game studio Avalanche, offered more details about how it will work. There are two big components to the platform, he said. There are the physical figurines, which you can place on a pad to determine which characters get “teleported” into the game. Then there’s the software, which includes play sets — gaming experiences based on specific franchises. Each play set features game mechanics specifically designed for that universe. The Pirates of the Caribbean set, for example, focuses on sailing between different islands. The environments and characters are still customizable, but they’re meant to be “true to property,” so you won’t see Mr. Incredible showing up in the Pirates set.

Then there’s the “toy box,” an environment for “mashing up” different franchises. In demonstrating the toy box, Blackburn showed off an adventure mode, which introduces players to the basic mechanics, plus a simple logic editor that allows them to modify how the game works using a point-and-click interface. Naturally, both the play sets and the toy box will support multiplayer mode.

Disney is about to give reporters a more hands-on demo of the platform, and I’m also scheduled to interview Blackburn in a few minutes, so I’ll write up my initial impressions in a separate post.

Update 1: According to Disney’s fact sheet, a starter pack will cost $79.99, a play set will cost $34.99, and a figure will cost $12.99. And here’s my interview with Blackburn, where he offers a few more thoughts on Disney’s plans.

Update 2: Since Disney seems to be following the toy-based gaming model pioneered by Activision’s Skylanders, Activision is sending around a statement that the franchise has brought in more than $500 million in sales, and with the following comment on the news:

We are thrilled by the incredible success that the Skylanders franchise has had in such a short period of time.  We are also flattered that one of the leading family entertainment companies is joining our toys to life category. We continue to focus on delivering innovative and immersive entertainment experiences to kids around the world and are pouring more creativity into our games.  As a result we are well positioned to continue leading the category.