Disney Infinity producer downplays Skylanders similarities

Disney Interative executive producer John Vignocchi has spoken out to downplay the similarities between Disney Infinity and Activision's Skylanders series. Speaking with Polygon, Vignocchi admitted some similarities do exist, but claimed that overall, Infinity is a unique game.

"There are similarities, in that we have figures, but the similarities stop there," Vignocchi said. "Infinity is intended to be a platform for all things Disney. The playsets inside of Infinity are new and original stories. They are open-world games."

Another significant differentiating factor, according to Vignocchi, is Disney Infinity's Toy Box mode, which allows gamers to make whatever they want.

"And then of course the Toy Box mode is more Minecraft-meets-LittleBigPlanet," he said. "It's something totally different where we allow kids to use their imagination and take our brands to build whatever they want."

When Disney Infinity launches in August, it will have much work to do to catch up with Activision's Skylanders series, which has minted more than $1 billion worldwide to date from the sale of over 100 million toys.

Activision is not worried about Disney's arrival in the toys-to-life market. The Call of Duty company said in January that it is unfazed by Disney's move and is well positioned to continue to be the genre market leader.