Disney Infinity Will Include Star Wars and Marvel

In a move that most probably saw coming from miles away, Disney says they are certainly looking forward to including characters from Star Wars and Marvel in their forthcoming game, Infinity. They don't have anything to announce just yet, but they want to make sure gamers are well aware the potential is there.

Disney Infinity, for those that might not know, can easily be explained as Skylanders with Disney characters. Gamers buy a copy of the game, an RFID portal, and a character starter kit and they're off and running.

The character standing on the portal influences what character is seen on screen, and what game worlds are accessible. Some of the characters that Disney has announced thus far include The Incredibles, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Cars.

Those are but the tip of the iceberg for Infinity, though, as Disney Interactive has already teased. Essentially, any property owned by Disney was seemingly up for grabs, meaning Star Wars and Marvel as well.

Disney Interactive's Bill Roper further explained the hope of pulling from Disney's vast library of properties to Games Industry:

"I think the beauty of something like Infinity is that it's a platform that we're building. So we don't try to be coy about it - we've done a lot of work about identifying the properties that we felt would really make the platform sing at launch, but I never discount any possibilities with the vast array of characters and worlds that we can tap into across the company."

However, since the game was likely in development before Disney acquired the Star Wars IP from LucasFilm — maybe even before Disney roped in Marvel as well — they didn't lead off with those properties. Still, we have to assume they are well aware the dump trucks worth of money gamers would be willing to send Disney's way if they put a few Marvel or Star Wars characters into Infinity.

As Roper explains, the folks at Disney Interactive thought the same thing fans did when Disney acquired LucasFilm:

"That was definitely exciting when that [news of the acquisition] came down from within the company. We love the potential for Infinity - we always joke, well, 'the possibilities are infinite'."

Based on Roper's quote it sounds like Disney Interactive is considering expansion packs themed around those specific properties, or perhaps they are saving those characters for the final push. Maybe they want to set up the basic concept of Infinity, which is actually quite different from Skylanders with its 'Toy Box' mode, before coming fast and furious with the character reveals.

So yes, Star Wars and Marvel are headed to Infinity. Maybe not this particular incarnation of Infinity, but definitely sometime down the line.

Does it seem like a no-brainer that Infinity would include Star Wars and Marvel characters? Should Disney Interactive include the characters into the main line game or create specific spin-offs?

Disney Infinity releases August 18, 2013 for the Wii, Xbox 360, Ps3, 3DS, Wii U, and PC.

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Source: Games Industry