Disney Infinity will be hitting its third iteration this year and has already covered an incredible amount of ground when it comes to using famous Disney and Lucasfilm IP.
We've already seen the likes of The Avengers, Frozen, Toy Story, Cars and much more besides in the Disney Infinity universe, and this year it's the turn of Star Wars - a property which is now owned by the House of Mouse.
Getting to play with these characters is going to be exciting enough, but the people in charge are keen to stress that there's still a lot more they can do with this franchise - and that includes bringing in some pretty oddball choices when it comes to characters and IP.
Speaking to vice president of business and franchise management at Lucasfilm Ada Duan, Polygon asked what other properties we could see coming to Disney Infinity - and her response spoke volumes:
Are you thinking about Howard the Duck?
In terms of Star Wars content, there's definitely more Star Wars coming out. What these guys have been saying is that Disney Infinity is a platform for all the IP across the company, Star Wars being part of that. You'll see more. As more movies and TV shows come out and there's evaluation of what we can support, I think Infinity is going to support all the IP across the company. As Lucas comes out with more IP and more Star Wars.
Disney Interactive vice president of production John Vignocchi himself seems keen to leverage the new relationship with Lucasfilm - the company formerly known as Lucasarts:
I'll be like, please, can we do Secret of Monkey Island? And she'll say, 'Can we talk about how relevant this is? There are so many other things we could do.'
Duan has admitted that for the time being, the focus of Disney Infinity is supporting upcoming projects - like the new Star Wars film - rather than digging through the past for fan favourites:
We have so much new content coming out. It's natural that we're going to want things to be supported coming up. It's not out of the question [that we'd approve something from the archives], but I feel like there's so much new that that's probably going to be the focus.
However, Vignocchi adds that Disney continues to listen to its fans, and if the demand is there, nothing is off the table:
We're listening to the fans. We do the Facebook fan stuff all the time. We do these informal polls, and they wind up in the senior executive meetings with guys throwing stuff around and yelling at each other. 'OK, this is what the fan poll said we should be doing, these characters.' That's how I lost Darkwing Duck to Olaf this year. That would have been awesome, right?
What classic Disney and Lucasfilm properties would you personally like to see come to Disney Infinity? Action adventure Indiana Jones? Cult David Bowie vehicle Labyrinth? Fantasy epic Willow? Or perhaps George Lucas' recent critical and commercial bomb, Strange Magic? Let us know by posting a comment below.
[source polygon.com]
Comments 38
... Gargoyles? Please, Disney? If not in Kingdom Hearts, at least in Disney Infinity?
The problem with this way of doing business is although it's nice to own a bit of plastic of your favourite obscure Nintendo/WB/Disney character, does it really enhance the gameplay? Shoving Darkwing Duck in the toy box is just a glorified skin. Also, I can't help but think that although all of these companies have a lot of IP, there is a limit to the amount that people actually care about, and year on year production will run the well dry fairly quickly. I mean after Smash, Animal Crossing and Pokémon Cards, what other really tempting characters can Nintendo produce apart from new poses of what has come before?
Most of the really interesting figures are the ones that are usually restricted to the Toybox, and that's what holds this series back. Focusing on current releases isn't helping much either.
@Sabrewing
I wouldn't bother with the game, I'd just buy the figurines.
Labyrinth would be freaking amazing! Especially if they included the kick ass Bowie soundtrack! That movie is just as incredible today
Imagine the Bowie figure, crotch bulge & all....brilliant!
@Ichiban You remind me of the babe.
@Damo What babe?
@Ichiban The babe with the power
What power?
power of voodoo
Who do?
you do
YES, YES, Darkwing Duck and I'll buy the game!
@MERG Do what ?
Labyrinth would be incredible, maybe as a light-rpg/adventure game, wow. So much potential. And Willow too, actually.
Please no reminder of Howard the Duck or Strange Magic
Remind me of the babe.
@TwilightV Yes. This is exactly the problem with Disney Infinity. With 2.0, there were a bunch of cool campaigns for Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spider-Man, but toys/characters are restricted to their campaigns. Like, you can't play Avengers levels as Spider-Man - which I assumed you would be able to do - buy a figure for a game, he can play in any level!
That's what kept me from buying Jack Skellington. He can't play in the campaigns (I really wanted to have him beat up Loki and take missions from Nick Fury). All you can do is use him in the Toy Box mode, which is Minecraft-lite. If that's all I could use the Goblin King for, I don't want any part of it.
But I also haven't explored much of Toy Box - I'm in my 30s and I think I'm wired now to just play existing missions and not build my own worlds.
@Damo @Ichiban @MERG @jedkitty Hahaha love it, though I'm not gonna be able to get that song out of my head for the rest of my shift 😀
@carlos82 @Damo @Ichiban @MERG @jedkitty
I logged in just to start that comment thread, but you guys beat me to it already!
I'm just happy about the what little Tron love has made it into DI. Actual figurines this time. It's all because Tron 3 almost got started, but I'll take it anyway. If things went by quality and scheduled channel programming was dead — it's taking too long! — Tron Uprising would have its own playset, too and and a few figurines to go with it. Then, we could have Tron, himself. sigh. Oh well. Tron is about an alternate reality, I guess it has to live there.
You know what would be intresting on DI? A "Trio" or "Duo" character(s) or something (1 figurine, but 2 to 3 characters in the same "model"). Similar to what Super smash bros brawl did for the Ice Climbers. Maybe something like this would be better for some characters (like Chip & Dale (Chip & Dale Rescure Rangers) or Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather (Sleeping Beauty)) Though i'd personally wouldn't mind seeing some classic characters like Merlin (Sword in the Stone) being added.....
Darkwing Duck. Scrooge McDuck. Heck, I'll even take Howard.
Let's just get Donald the heck out of it.
Howard the Duck isn't exactly Disney, has this lady even watched it? He's like the Ted of the 80s...kinda.
How about Disney bring back their older properties first? Goof Troop, Gummy Bears, Tale Spin, Rescue Rangers, Gargoyles, Duck Tales. You want obscure Disney? How about The Wuzzles and Fluppy Dogs. I don't buy these things but a Saturday Morning and Disney Afternoon cartoons set? I'd be all over it and at least I know I can walk right in and get them.
@Echostory
Yeah, I don't understand why Disney barely touches their animated greats in favor of Pixar, Marvel and freakin Pixar all the time. That's why I don't like Infinity. Plus out of the three major Toys to Life games, well the Marvel and real life movie toys are butt ugly and the Pixar characters are hit-or-miss in terms of quality.
Haven't written this list in months, but since you asked
The Black Hole - good robot and bad robot 2 pack
20,000 Leagues - Nautilus and squid undersea playset
Snow White - the 7 dwarves, or at least Dopey, Grumpy and Doc or Sleepy
Bambi - Bambi and Thumper
Pinocchio - Pinoch, Jiminy Cricket
Jungle Book - Baloo and Shere Khan, maybe King Louie and Kaa
Dumbo - Dumbo, crow, mouse
And I don't know if Disney owns the rights, but Rikki Tikki Tavi and Naigana
What a shame, more classics (of varying quality) to sacrifice to the Disney monster...
Please don't make Labyrinth figures. Because then I'd have to add Disney Infinity to my bulging amiibo addiction and that's no good for anybody.
But yes: Bowie + Henson = MAGIC.
Aladdin and Jasmine got me to buy 2.0..... I more-so just wanted to figures because they are REALLY nice.
And now I have a disgusting collection of these things. I hardly play the actual game.
But Howard the Duck? Seriously!? I watched that film for the first time last year, and I felt like my eyeballs needed a shower.
I would buy Darkwing Duck and Labyrinth figures in a heartbeat, and i don't care about the whole "toys to life"-fad at all...
@Gamecubed Do not confuse the horrible movie with the awesome comic book character. Howard the Duck is a great character, the movie is not a good movie.
@Angelic_Lapras_King I have been requesting Darkwing Duck ever since the first Infinity game was announced. Everyone seems to mostly ignore the Disney Afternoon characters though (even though there are still so many fans). I will be shocked if they ever actually release him as a figure. Maybe they will release Scrooge or Launchpad to coincide with the new DuckTales series?
@Nintendzoey I'd like to hope the Disney Aftrnoon is next year's theme, but it'll probably be something like The Muppets....
@Damo You beat me...
If it's monkey island or darkwing duck I'd actually buy.
@rjejr
I love that movie but Rikki Tikki Tavi was from the people who brought us Tom and Jerry.
@Gamecubed
LOL
@Tempestryke - "Rikki Tikki Tavi was from the people who brought us Tom and Jerry"
You mean there's still a property Disney doesn't own yet? Maybe they'll buy it before Disney Infinity 4.0?
http://qz.com/155390/why-disney-keeps-buying-all-your-favorite-childhood-icons/
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