Is this the third or fourth time Disney has killed their internal studios and fired everyone? They seem totally schizophrenic on their games strategy.
So far, from what I can recall / find, here's a list of videogame development studios that have been shut down under Disney's watch...
- Wideload Games (Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, Hail to the Chimp, Guilty Party)
- Propaganda Games (The 2008 Turok reboot, Tron: Evolution, what would had been Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned)
- Black Rock Studio (Pure, Split Second)
- Junction Point (Epic Mickey and its sequel Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two)
- LucasArts (closed when Lucasfilm was acquired)
- Acclaim Games (small studio revival of the former Acclaim Entertainment in 2008 that produced online games, it was later acquired by Playdom in 2010, which was itself bought by Disney a few months later, Acclaim Games was disbanded shortly afterwards)
So Avalanche Software's closure marks the seventh time Disney dumped a studio in its grave. Any gaming studio bought by the company virtually has its days numbered. In light of that, Avalanche Software being shuttered unfortunately isn't surprising to me, hopefully the laid off staff can find work quickly (though Disney Infinity not selling gangbusters is surprising to me).