Disney Infinity has proven to be an incredibly successful gaming venture for Disney Interactive, as it has quickly become one of the biggest games in the industry. Last year, after much speculation about whether Disney Infinity would be a game-changer for the company, the game has been just that – millions of starter packs have been sold and individual figures that allow players to play as the characters in the game have also become collector’s items. Last week, Disney Interactive and Avalanche Software, the talented group behind the game’s development, returned to Hollywood to unveil Disney Infinity 2.0 – check out our full report, including our photos from the event after the break!
Prior to the big unveiling, Jimmy Pitaro, president of Disney Interactive, took to the stage to share some impressive figures about the first iteration of the game – more than 3 million starter packs have been sold at retail, with the gaming platform (including the game, figures, and power discs) amassing over $500 million in sales. Now, a decision could easily have been made to swim in its success, to take a step back and enjoy the increased flow of cash, but a follow-up has been in development for some time. After all the requests to include Marvel characters, the new game will introduce the super heroes. Its title? Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes!
Included in the starter pack for the game will be figures for Iron Man, Thor, and Black Widow:
In addition to the three figures, the starter pack, which will debut this fall, will also include the game disc (obviously), a new Disney Infinity base, 2 Toy Box game discs, and an Avengers Play Set piece. Similar to the pricing structure of the first game, the set will retail for the suggested price of $74.99 (although, expect many sales and great discounts at various retailers when it launches):
The other announced figures are of Hulk, Captain America, and Hawkeye (each will retail for $13.99), which will debut alongside the release of the starter pack:
Promising that the game would be bigger and better than ever, after having listened to all of the feedback from players (more later on the importance of that to the Infinity team), the game’s Executive Producer John Vignocchi and Vice President John Blackburn discussed the incredible list of new features:
- In the first Disney Infinity, when it came to Play Sets, characters were limited to solely interacting with their own environments (e.g. Mr. Incredible could not journey over to the Monsters University Play Set). New is the ability for the super hero characters to venture into other characters’ storylines (which will be written by Marvel Comics mainstay Brian Michael Bendis). Since story is a concept that is essential to Disney, it makes sense, logically, for the super hero characters to appear alongside others.
- The game’s Toy Box mode, the massively customizable stage where gamers can create their own worlds, will now be less overwhelming. In the original Infinity, gamers were responsible for all the building, but now you can gather some help from the game, which will help you build if you choose. Of course, you can alter what is built to your liking, making for a great mixture of infinite possibility and user-friendliness.
- There will be new Toy Box game discs, which will provide missions and tasks to complete in the mode. Again, it is about providing gamers with more opportunities to get involved with the insanely customizable world, and has also been inserted to inspire players’ creativity when building their own.
- In the Toy Box, where gamers used to be limited to playing and customizing the outside world, the new game will allow players to head into the buildings and decorate and adjust inside as well.
Also, to those who have been on board the Disney Infinity boat since the first game and have spent countless hours (and dollars) on building up their game and collection, there is good news – you will be able to use your figures and power discs in the new game, and you will be able to maintain your saved data! Although that had been heavily rumored before, it is great to see the developers honoring all the effort that gamers have put into the platform.
In their announcement of the game’s features, Vignocchi and Blackburn also explained that they care deeply about the development team’s interaction with the fan community that has exploded onto the scene since the release of the first game. To continue catering to fans and what they are looking for, the team actually hired a fan (username: CrazyByNick) who had been uploading creative Toy Boxes that he designed himself. He will now be working closely with the developers on the game to ensure that gamers continue to reap the benefits after the game is released. There will be more of these hires taking place in coming months as well.
We also received confirmation that in addition to other Marvel heroes, new Disney and Pixar characters would join in on the fun as well. Although we do not have any further details on who we can expect, in the new trailer, which you can view below, you can get a glimpse at Merida from Brave, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (and the upcoming Maleficent live-action film), and Stitch from Lilo and Stitch:
Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes will be released for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, WiiU, PC, and iOS devices this Fall! Stay tuned for more coverage of the exciting addition to the Disney Infinity family.
