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video interview

The Fall And Resurrection Of Licensed Games

by Ben Hanson on May 26, 2015 at 09:00 AM

While our June cover story on Disney Infinity 3.0 covers Avalanche Software's next big release, while visiting the studio we spoke to its general manager John Blackburn about the turbulent history of licensed games based on animated films. The studio was put in a relatively dire situation around 2008 as the market for licensed games was drying up and before the toys-to-life genre of games took off, but things shifted after their bold pitch for a game based on Toy Story 3. While Disney Infinity has placed some secure ground under the studio's feet, Blackburn is looking to change things up and experiment with future releases in the series taking on "a different form" from an annual cycle.

Watch the video below to learn about the difficulties of developing licensed games, the mistakes the team thinks it made with the release of Disney Infinity 2.0, and why he sees Star Wars as "the last major product family" to be incorporated into the Disney Infinity universe.

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