This is a Goofy Hail Mary Pass of a Disney Infinity-Sized ESPN Football to save the Toy Box. It's a different business model, with much less risk for the Walt Disney Company, avoids future toys-to-life expenses, and has been proven to be successful for other online video game products in the industry.
Disney Infinity is a great product. And for many fans, it's about the online community - it's about the collaboration, it's about the weekly challenges, it's about online leaderboards & El Capitan showcasing, it's about building & sharing in the Toy Box. But without a viable business model, it cannot continue. Disney Interactive's play in the toys-to-life genre is done. Disney Interactive's direct publishing in the console market is done. But there's been no official word yet on the Toy Box App. As a console gamer, you may think that this app is irrelevant - but there's a chance (however small) that a new pricing model for that app could save Community Content across all Disney Infinity platforms.
What if the pricing structure for both the Toy Box App and Disney Infinity on the PC moved to a subscription-based model, like MMORPGs? Take World of Warcraft at $15/mo or better yet the family-based Wizard101 at $10/mo, with $50 semi-annual & $80/year costs, with discounts for multiple accounts? What if the subscription-based model unlocked ALL of the toys? The free-to-play trial would remain, where you could see all of these locked goodies, and for a 1-month experience of $10 you could unlock ALL of the characters, ALL of their power discs, & ALL of the building content (even those from Play Sets) for that subscription period. Many would consider this a price drop, especially since it would unlock digital content for both PC & mobile. This notion of digital content could then extend to the consoles - they could ironically become an extension of digital pricing. Disney's Infrastructure would simply enforce that you were only accessing one device per account at a time. When the subscription period is up, usage would revert to "permanently owned toys", with the option to renew that subscription at any time (Wizard101 uses this twin-pricing option to its marketing advantage). In the case of Infinity, a subscription would be necessary to access Community Content.
Some would argue that Disney Infinity is no way an MMORPG. Simply put, it is a different form of an online community. You leverage the Toy Boxes that have already been made. You leverage new content from the Community Team. You leverage new content from the Toy Box Master Artists. You tweak your Community Content DB for more Toy Box recommendations - by favorite Artist (such as Community Team) or by selected Character (on the base, not some crazy list of 100), or by the full list of all El Capitan Showcases, in addition to the lists already there - make it easier for everyone to find high-quality Toy Boxes to justify the subscription cost. And yes, this model is particularly expensive for console gamers, but it could unlock all of the Terrain & Sky disc themes for example, if not all Power Disc content. And if no alternative is provided, all of that Community Content is going to vanish in a few short months.
This new pricing model would not save all of the jobs at Avalanche, but it would save some. The studio would still be officially shut down (once declared, and with a publicly disclosed write-off, it must happen). And this new subscription-based sustainability model would probably not support three hundred developers. But executives could select some number of developers & animators (even if they're "hired back") to provide incremental content to the Disney Infinity base to help justify subscription fees, and to fix bugs associated with service. They could officially become part of Disney Interactive's Mobile Team for example. Service costs could be further minimized by having this new price model only apply to Disney Infinity 3.0 - so the handful of incompatible changes to various toys, Toy Box Meters, etc. would be behind them. This would ensure that the supported consoles would all have the ability to pull new content digitally. Subscriptions would be managed from their official website, and that little inconspicuous Toy Box App could save the Disney Infinity experience on the console. No more Play Sets - they never fit the Toy Box App, and they wouldn't provide sufficient return on investments elsewhere. Focus on the Toy Box Community. It is very low risk - much lower development cost, no physical production cost, and no shelf space cost. Most underlying infrastructures today are usage-based, so if there are fewer subscribers downloading, then your overhead is lower. They could pilot this for a year and see. It's sustainable. Future investments into the franchise, big & small, could adjust based on the predictable revenue stream of yearly subscriptions. With sufficient gains, you might even see some small handful of limited production figures, say from Disney Parks or the online Disney Store, to "catch up" with digitally added figures. The emphasis would be for online content, where the Disney Infinity Team could again synch up with Disney film releases (but with subscription pricing, you automatically get ALL of the new characters). Still hoping to witness the flight of Peter Pan. Happy Thoughts!
Someone should start a more directed petition across this community - the signup would signify those willing to pay say $10/mo or $80 for the year to sustain Community Content, Toy Box TV, and future digital content to Disney Infinity. I have no idea how those numbers would translate to their new cost structure, but if it's viable for MMORPGs, why not for Infinity? I'd purchase at least 21 of those accounts at that price .
Regardless of the outcome, Best Wishes to the Disney Infinity Team. Fantastic Game.