By Ryan Nakashima, Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Disney said Tuesday it is shutting down its Disney Infinity line of video games, saying the changing market is too risky.
The company booked a $147 million charge, mostly for unsold inventory. It also laid off about 300 employees, most of them based in Salt Lake City at Avalanche Software, a game studio Disney bought in 2005.
CEO Bob Iger told analysts the risks "caught up with us." Although the unit did well – bringing its interactive division into profitability in recent years – Disney determined it was better to manage the risks by licensing characters rather than developing video games from scratch, he said.
"That business is a changing business, and we did not have enough confidence in the business in terms of it being stable enough to stay in it," Iger said.
Disney Infinity, a platform that brought characters from its "Pirates of the Caribbean" into the same digital sandbox as those from "Cars" and "Frozen," was launched in 2013 as a way to jump on the "toys to life" bandwagon made popular by the game "Skylanders." Real-world action figures were placed on pads and meant to activate in the video game world.
When Infinity launched in August 2013, it helped Disney pull its Interactive business to profitability after years of losses, and it was a precursor to the Playmation line of smart, connected toys Disney launched last year. But diminishing sales of Infinity hurt the consumer products unit that was merged with the interactive division last summer.
The high cost of making Infinity came in stark contrast to "Star Wars Battlefront," a hugely successful game in which Disney licensed its characters and stories to Electronic Arts. That deal gave its consumer products segment a big jolt in the previous quarter through December.
Infinity's lackluster results, conversely, contributed to Disney missing Wall Street forecasts in the latest quarter through March. It posted adjusted earnings of $1.36 per share, falling below the $1.40 expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
The entertainment company posted revenue of $12.97 billion in the period, also falling short of Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $13.26 billion.
Shares in Walt Disney Co., which is based in Burbank, California, tumbled 5.6 percent to $100.60 in after-hours trading after the results were released, taking them into negative territory for the year.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More