Oh Disney Infinity, how I love thee.

Disney Infinity's cancellation in May 2016 was a crushing blow for me. Not just because I had spent an already sizeable fortune on this latest obsession, but because the games were fantastic and the figure line was one of the best I've ever seen and owned.

Each playset was a tremendous joy to play through, the Pirates of The Caribbean playset for the first Disney Infinity being a total standout. It did something very important that none of the other figure-based gaming franchises were doing, it gave you the tools to make your own games if you so chose.

If you've managed to watch anyone, especially a kid, playing Minecraft, you'll understand why that was such an important addition. If you took the time to get to grips with the game-making side of the software, no small task I assure you, you weren't just playing games, you were making them and encouraging your, and possibly your child's, creativity while building logic and problem solving skills. In an age where the mindless shooter is the most common form of entertainment, this aspect of the software should not be downplayed. And since modding has long since been the lifeblood of many a PC title, theoretically Disney Infinity should have had many years in its lifespan.

Unfortunately, a loss of money through mismanagement on the figure production side, saw Disney make the unenviable decision of shutting down the line and closing the studio responsible for developing the games.

How I wept. Manly, of course.

Every couple of months seems to bring a new caveat of sadness as more canned future plans for the defunct series continues to surface. A couple of months ago, plans for a Doctor Strange figure were released, along with larger 12" figures in the series, most notably this pretty awesome light-up Darth Vader figure.



The latest news comes hot on the heels of the recent release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. A playset for Rogue One was planned that would have featured most of the the Rebel cast, from Jyn Erso to K-S20, and would have been developed by Ninja Theory. A range of figures would also have been released along with the playset. I'm pretty sure K-S20 alone would have sold almost as fast as Rogue One tickets did. The figures, apparently, were close to finished and ready for production, such as this sweet Baze Malbus figure.



Also in the works were figures based on Disney's latest animated feature film, Moana.



Designer B Allen, who worked on many of the series' figure range, has released concept shots of the work he did on his online portfolio. In it you can see some of the characters that were also cut from the game as well, such as Star Wars Clone Trooper Captain Rex.

For those of you still playing the game on console, and looking to expand its lifespan, you can still pick up some of the playsets that are still available before they disappear. As well, if you take the game online, you can scan through the plethora of Disney team and user created levels and download the ones you want. But you have to be quick about it as the game's servers will finally be closing on the 3rd of March 2017.

Via Kotaku.