Sept. 09--The third release of the mash-up video game series "Disney Infinity" is now available in stores, and Disney Interactive's Vice President of Production John Vignocchi finally might take a day off. Although anybody who has had even a fleeting encounter with Vignocchi knows that he will not. There is no vacation when at any moment you're willing to talk with Twitter fans about Darkwing Duck.
"I always wanted to talk to video game developers," Vignocchi says of his teen days when he toiled away on "Mortal Kombat" FAQs, just as gaming's Internet fandom was beginning. "It's a bit of me giving back, because when I was a kid, that's what I cared so much about." Under Vignocchi's guidance, providing that connection between the game fans and the game makers has become a focal point for "Disney Infinity."
A Lake Forest native who got his break at Chicago's legendary arcade game company Midway Games, John Vignocchi is the smiling, scrubbed face of "Disney Infinity." He's a top level exec who loves talking with ground level fans. He's willing to appear in loosely structured live Internet streams where things break and people talk over each other like a college TV production. Then he pivots right into the shoes of a master showman as he appears on "Good Morning America" or stands on the D23 Disney conference stage in Anaheim.
On one of his recent Twitch livestreams -- dubbed "Toy Box TV," a reference to the game's construction mode -- Vignocchi displayed the forthright persona that defines him. The story begins with Vignocchi and John Blackburn, CEO of "Infinity" developer Avalanche Software, in the D23 auditorium, rolling out a series of 3.0 announcements. After hyping up Star Wars toys with glowing lightsabers and action figures based on the upcoming film "Zootopia," they revealed a special surprise: a D23-exclusive "power disc" accessory for "Disney Infinity." Only 5,000 were produced, it was never to be sold at retail, and it was free for D23 attendees.
The crowd in the theater was over the moon. The crowd watching at home was less enthused. "Disney Infinity" appeals to both a video game audience and a Disney geek audience, two groups who very much like to collect every single thing. How will anybody who did not make it to D23 get this rare trinket? Disappointed gamers pummeled Vignocchi online, and he took some time on the next "Toy Box TV" episode to talk about it. He could have ignored it; he could have offered up a corporate-speak non-apology. Visibly upset, he instead confessed to letting the fans down and promised to find some way to make up for it.
Will Kelley, host of the fan-produced "Inside Infinity" podcast, says Vignocchi's personal engagement is a double-edged sword. "He is loved and respected by the community when things are going well, but when things are bad, the negativity is focused directly toward him."
Vignocchi represents that doe-eyed "Disney Magic" while shouldering the weight of video game development for the most complicated entertainment company on Earth. His sincerity is why gamers love him, and also why they feel so free to unload on him. He's leading the Mouseketeers in song on a company-branded guitar, only the song is a video game and the guitar is Twitch.
A Star Wars, Disney mash-up
The first "Disney Infinity" was released in 2013. Two years and two sequels later, the basics of "Disney Infinity" have not changed. The game interacts with toys that let you choose which Disney star you want to be. Put Mickey Mouse on the scan base and you're Mickey. You can switch to Spider-Man or Captain Jack Sparrow or Tinker Bell, assuming you own those particular toy figures.
This year's "Disney Infinity" adds the ultimate pop culture trump card, Star Wars. The entire saga is represented, from the original films to the quickly approaching "The Force Awakens." Luke, Leia and Han now join a game that pulls from all over Disney's greatest hits. Star Wars joins the likes of Toy Story, the Muppets, ESPN, Frozen, the Avengers and the Enchanted Tiki Room. Thanks to the company's voracious dual appetites of creation and acquisition, "Disney Infinity" is the family-friendly franchise blender you could not have imagined ten years ago.
"Family friendly" does not necessarily mean "wallet friendly." The mixture of character toys, playsets and other accessories adds up fast. The starter game package includes two Star Wars figures, a Star Wars adventure playset, and the 3.0 game itself for $64.99. Available separately, several new-for-3.0 $35 playsets and plenty of $14 figures will let you play as new characters and explore different Disney worlds. It sounds financially daunting, but the video game industry has enjoyed years of proving the formula works, assuming the game is solid and the brands are desirable. This "toys to life" category, pioneered by Activision's "Skylanders" and followed by Disney, Nintendo and soon Lego, has already generated billions of dollars in sales in just a few years.
Beyond Star Wars, 3.0 will introduce an impressive list of recognizable names to the "Infinity" collection -- Mulan! Olaf! The Good Dinosaur! Tomorrowland! Hulkbuster Iron Man! Inside Out! -- and Vignocchi promises more reveals to come. "We still have more Marvel characters to announce, more Pixar characters, and more Disney characters," he hints, fully aware that those sub-categories are far too broad to encourage accurate speculation.
Toy Box drives outreach initiatives
Walt Disney had a word for the attention-directing landmarks that dot Disneyland: weenies. In Walt's view, when you saw a weenie (like Space Mountain), you walked toward it. For "Disney Infinity 3.0," Vignocchi and the team knew Star Wars was a big enough weenie to get gamers' attention, but it's the all-encompassing Toy Box mode where "Infinity" players will spend the bulk of their time. In the Toy Box, you can mix and mingle elements from all across the Disney multiverse. While this process can be as simple as dropping buildings and vehicles into an empty field, the more adept Toy Box aficionados can take advantage of a suite of programming tools. These levels can be shared online, and Disney has fully embraced the community of popular Toy Box creators that has sprung up around this feature.
The Toy Box is at the center of a series of fan outreach initiatives that show Vignocchi's dedication to personally interacting with the game's devoted. Concurrent with August's D23 event, the top Infinity fans and level creators were invited to a special Toy Box Summit where they participated in live Twitch panel discussions and were treated to behind-the-scenes info. A select group was even allowed to decide on a Disney character to be added to the game. They chose Peter Pan, and Vignocchi hopes to have the original lost boy ready for his "Disney Infinity 3.0" debut by the fall of 2016.
It is this open attitude that so impresses the Infinity community. Kelley, who has been invited to summits in 2014 and 2015 on the strength of his enthusiast podcast, says Disney has been very free with information about 3.0. "[This openness] has made my life easier," Kelley says, "allowing me to focus on the nuances of the game in my coverage." Kelley was one of many players able to go hands-on with 3.0 at Disney-sponsored events while it was still in development.
Of course, not everybody can run a video game fan site or make the trip to an "Infinity" preview event. So the "Disney Infinity" team put together an online "Player's Pick" poll to vote on which classic Disney character should join the game's roster. At this writing, the poll has devolved into a two horse race between Mabel from "Gravity Falls" and Vignocchi's sentimental favorite, the aforementioned Darkwing Duck. The stats are so skewed that nefarious doings are suspected. "That's how you know you've made it," Vignocchi laughs.
Whoever wins that particular Disney-nerd showdown likely will not make the cut-off for this year's release, which raises the specter of "Disney Infinity 4.0." It's too early for Vignocchi to go on the record about the next game, but it's easy to presume that Disney has no plans for "Infinity" to end.
"At some point, we have to add swimming," Vignocchi says, before pointing out the logistical challenges posed by adding water to a future version of the game. He has clearly been over this many times with the programmers, deep technical discussions over how to make swimming fun. Players may want the Little Mermaid in "Infinity," but that means solving the problem of a hundred other characters suddenly needing to operate underwater.
Naturally, Vignocchi can bring up fan mail on the topic. "I had a member of the community send me a video the other day," he recalls. "He said flying inside of 'Infinity' is fun, if we could make swimming like flying, we'd have something." And there's the special brand of Disney Magic that John Vignocchi brings to the table: his mouse ears are always listening to fans.
