News ► Disney Infinity is being discontinued

[OathkeeperRoxas XIII]

Just to be clear as the damage is gonna be done done, this will not mean KH3 is cancelled soon because sure no one cares about 2.8 /Sarcasm

 

[Nazo]

So, can someone clarify what the ramifications of this ultimately are? The Disney Infinity aspect I understand, but it's the fact that Disney is pulling out of the publishing side of things that worries me. I know Square has always been the one to make the KH games, so from a "making the actual game" standpoint, nothing has changed since Disney's game devs have never been the ones making them.

But, since Square both makes and publishes the series, is there anything else major to be concerned about for KH, aside from some properties potentially becoming more difficult to acquire permission to use?

 

[Chaser]

So, can someone clarify what the ramifications of this ultimately are? The Disney Infinity aspect I understand, but it's the fact that Disney is pulling out of the publishing side of things that worries me. I know Square has always been the one to make the KH games, so from a "making the actual game" standpoint, nothing has changed since Disney's game devs have never been the ones making them.

But, since Square both makes and publishes the series, is there anything else major to be concerned about for KH, aside from some properties potentially becoming more difficult to acquire permission to use?

Seems to be just that. If a company purchases the rights to develop a series of games based on a franchise then Square might have to pay a licensing fee if they wanted that franchise in a Kingdom Hearts game.
I'm sure Disney might have some loophole for this sort of thing as they understand just what exactly Kingdom Hearts is and how popular the big games are.

 

[Knuxpyro56]

Seems to be just that. If a company purchases the rights to develop a series of games based on a franchise then Square might have to pay a licensing fee if they wanted that franchise in a Kingdom Hearts game.
I'm sure Disney might have some loophole for this sort of thing as they understand just what exactly Kingdom Hearts is and how popular the big games are.

They Should know, Bob Iger use to be one of the people that oversaw the development of KH1 (well before his CEO induction), and as well helped them get as many Disney characters in as possible.

 

[redcrown]

As charming and fun as DI seemed to be, I always hated the format in how you had to buy them. $80 for the game itself (when I saw it in stores anyways) and 10 dollars for the figurines themselves. For people who can barely afford normal games it seemed beyond unfair. I would have probably gotten it/loved it if wasn't sold the way it was

My only care about this is that no KH characters will ever be made now. It would have been interesting to see what differences in design and attacks they would have implemented onto the charaters.

 

[MATGSY]

I would imagine that Square & Disney already have a set contract for KH3 & Disney can't really tamper with that even if they wanted to.

 

[reimeille]

Honestly, I believe Kingdom Hearts could've been its saving grace, at least for a while. One advantage it would have had is that Kingdom Hearts fans are largely gamers by default (unlike Disney/Marvel/Star Wars). Exponentially more likely to have a game console and be willing to spend money on a video game. KH also has a large adult following, whereas the current DI demographic is young children who rely on their parents to buy figures (and therefore don't have any say when their parents decide "thats enough").

And as if Disney needed another reason, the series is so slow on entries and merchandise outside of Japan that people will take anything they can get... Even if they didn't buy the game, I'm sure many of them would've easily purchased the figures on their own. Heck, even without the merchandise, in general if you say the words "Kingdom Hearts" you've already got tons of people there.

It really was an all around bad idea not to try to add Kingdom Hearts from the get-go. It seems like such an obvious choice that I honestly can't understand why it took until their final hours to consider it...

But hey, at least this means that Kingdom Hearts has eliminated one of its opponents for the D23 stage next year All we've probably got now is the Star Wars: Battlefront sequel that was just announced.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

It really was an all around bad idea not to try to add Kingdom Hearts from the get-go. It seems like such an obvious choice that I honestly can't understand why it took until their final hours to consider it...

Essentially it boils down to Disney not really understanding how huge the following behind the game is. They constantly underestimate it, and I'd say to a degree SE underestimates it as well. When the 1.5 event came around, Disney did not have very big expectations for the launch event and yet over 5000 people arrived to the event that was only meant to accommodate maybe 500+ people for the whole day. For the 2.5 they didn't think that there'd be such a huge demand to attend something like that and yet I believe the free tickets sold out in less than 10 minutes.

At D23, the majority of fans in attendance at the Disney Interactive panel were KH fans. You could hear it in the crowd when the enthusiasm was almost nonexistent after the made Kingdom Hearts an opener. It was only when Daisy Ridley and John Boyega appeared that some of the enthusiasm came back, and then again with the KH Mickey power disk.

I would hope by that this point they will finally give the game the proper attention it is due because holy hell how many times do you have to see this happen before it clicks lol.

But hey, at least this means that Kingdom Hearts has eliminated one of its opponents for the D23 stage next year All we've probably got now is the Star Wars: Battlefront sequel that was just announced.

I believe there are about four or five Star Wars games in development that haven't been announced so those will likely take up the majority of time.

 

[Audo]

Sources: The Ambitious (Now Cancelled) Plans For Disney Infinity's Future Included Rogue One, Bigger Figures

for those interested in this news in general and not just related to kh

looks like a story mode that would crossover the various figures was in the works for 4.0

 

[BlackOsprey]

Audo pls. You're making me less and less indifferent about this game that never will be. D:

 

[Audo]

it's interesting how even companies that disney technically own (Marvel, Lucasfilms) can force their own negotiations when dealing with the company that ultimately hurt it. might mean those properties in kh are more touchy than possibly thought

 

[reimeille]

Essentially it boils down to Disney not really understanding how huge the following behind the game is. They constantly underestimate it, and I'd say to a degree SE underestimates it as well. When the 1.5 event came around, Disney did not have very big expectations for the launch event and yet over 5000 people arrived to the event that was only meant to accommodate maybe 500+ people for the whole day. For the 2.5 they didn't think that there'd be such a huge demand to attend something like that and yet I believe the free tickets sold out in less than 10 minutes.

At D23, the majority of fans in attendance at the Disney Interactive panel were KH fans. You could hear it in the crowd when the enthusiasm was almost nonexistent after the made Kingdom Hearts an opener. It was only when Daisy Ridley and John Boyega appeared that some of the enthusiasm came back, and then again with the KH Mickey power disk.

I was at all of those except D23 (family issue came up last min). The 2.5 tickets sold out in less than 5mins every time (they went in groups of 100 I think?). The first few times, I was sitting and refreshing their Eventbrite and yet still kept missing it. I got lucky on the last batch (and got even luckier to find out I won the SE blog contest tickets, which I gave to a friend LOL)

The fact that so many of us came to Anaheim for 1.5 alone should've easily proven that if they were to implement something Kingdom Hearts related at the park, a good number of us'd actually come to see it. I always assumed it was something to do w/ legal restrictions, but now they've show quite a few times that they can do all of this stuff and more, but choose not to. Such a strange thing from such a notorious money hog...

I believe there are about four or five Star Wars games in development that haven't been announced so those will likely take up the majority of time.

Well, I love Star Wars almost as much as Kingdom Hearts so I'll survive, I think lol. If there's no 15th Anniversary event there will be hell to pay, though. It's such a perfect opportunity that if they miss it, I will be entirely convinced that they are purposefully just trying to spite us now :v

 

[MATGSY]

Sources: The Ambitious (Now Cancelled) Plans For Disney Infinity's Future Included Rogue One, Bigger Figures

for those interested in this news in general and not just related to kh

looks like a story mode that would crossover the various figures was in the works for 4.0

Oh goody, cancelled before doing literally the one thing everybody wanted them to do. -_-

 

[Chuman]

Sources: The Ambitious (Now Cancelled) Plans For Disney Infinity's Future Included Rogue One, Bigger Figures

for those interested in this news in general and not just related to kh

looks like a story mode that would crossover the various figures was in the works for 4.0

disney: about to revolutionize a genre and breath new life into it

also disney: "nah", watches it burn.

 

[MATGSY]

The 12 inch figures would've been pretty dumb IMO. $45 for an oversized figure that I'd have to accommodate for storage just to finally an updated skill tree for Buzz?

 

[Chaser]

After purchasing a 12" Nathan Drake statue, finding room for 12" figures would have been difficult but I probably would have done it anyway because man do I love the figures from this game.

The game series might be gone but come on Disney, just continue to make the figures from now on.

 

[MATGSY]

I just hope Lego Dimensions fares better so it can eventually license these guys.

 

[ultima-demi]

If only i could see an alternate reality where Disney gives Kh their full attention.

 

[Chuman]

if they made new figures but made them compatible with 3.0 that would be fine but IMPOSSIBLE.

 

[Knuxpyro56]

I would imagine that Square & Disney already have a set contract for KH3 & Disney can't really tamper with that even if they wanted to.

You're in luck, that contract hasnt changed since KH first began development. The only thing that got changed is that Square got distribution control of the titles AND merchandise, and this was back in '02