Disney Infinity: From Film to Game

In August 2013, Disney Interactive released the first instalment of Disney Infinity, a toys-to-life game platform that combined physical and digital play experiences. Players could place physical Disney and Pixar figures with an NFC chip onto a USB-connected base, bringing them to life in the game as playable avatars (Bak, 2015). Disney quickly expanded the series with Disney Infinity 2.0 in 2014 and Disney Infinity 3.0 in 2015, adding new characters and worlds, including Marvel and Star Wars (Bak, 2015).

Disney Infinity offers two modes of play: Play Set mode and Toy Box mode. In Play Set mode, players could complete missions in preset worlds tied to specific franchises. In contrast, Toy Box mode offered an open environment where players could freely build their own worlds and games by combining different elements. This made Disney Infinity unique within the toys-to-life genre, as it was the only platform that allowed for world building and level design (Bak, 2015). What also set Disney Infinity apart from other toys-to-life games, such as Skylanders and LEGO Dimensions, was the combination of different Disney franchises in one platform. For example, players could have Jack Sparrow, Buzz Lightyear and Elsa play together in the same world. In the Play Set mode, characters were still limited to their own storylines, but in the Toy Box, all Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars characters could come together (Fleury, 2015).

The following video demonstrates how the gaming platform works.