Disney Combines Toys and Video Game Divisions Because They're the Same Thing Now

Yesterday, Disney announced that it's merging its video games division with its toys division.

Disney Consumer Products, which makes stuff like Inside Out talking dolls, and Disney Interactive, which publishes video games like Tron: Evolution, are now simply Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (DCPI).

"The new structure is designed to share technological expertise and maximize opportunities and efficiencies across two divisions that have increasingly become focused on similar objectives of delivering cutting-edge, interactive consumer experiences and products," Disney said in a press release.

The gist, it seems, is that it's increasingly logical and profitable to make every toy a video game, and every video game a toy.

Call of Duty publisher Activision and developer Toys for Bob were the first to discover this toy/video game hybrid, or "toys-to-life" as this new category is now known. Their Skylanders games, spun off from the PlayStation platforming game Spyro the Dragon, introduced a nefariously clever hook that has generated $3 billion in sales to date.

Players buy a conventional video game, but in order to play it with new characters, they must buy their physical figures at the store, which they then put on a "portal" (a device that reads an RFID chip in the toy), to make them appear in the game. So what you get is all the addictive entertainment value of a modern video game, combined with the physical scarcity and collecting mentality of old fashioned toys.

Introduced in 2013, Disney Infinity is a lot like Skylanders, only with the nostalgia factor and marketing power of figures based on Disney properties like Pirates of the Caribbean, The Incredibles, and every superhero under the Marvel banner, which also belongs to Disney.

Speaking of things that belong to Disney, in 2012, the company acquired Lucasfilm for $4 billion, and with it the rights to all things Star Wars. This of course led to the announcement of Disney Infinity 3.0, which will lets players collect Star Wars figures and jack them into the video game.

Star Wars toys have been notoriously in-demand since the 70s, a new Star Wars movie is set to hit theaters this holiday season, and the new "toys to life" category is a way to keep the Minecraft generation interested plastic merchandise.

It's the perfect storm of cross-media branding synergy and other business-y buzzwords, so it makes a lot of sense to "effectively leverage Disney's extensive licensing structure and retail relationships across both [toys and video games] segments."

Disney Infinity already made impressive gains in the category Activision created, though Disney and Activision openly argue these gains. Earlier this year, Lego announced it's throwing its hat in the "toys to life" ring as well with Lego Dimensions, and even Nintendo's Amiibo figures, which don't even have the cool factor of appearing inside the video games are in high demand.

Basically, if you thought that the age of video games and digital delivery would bring about the end of the madness that takes hold toy stores during the Christmas season, think again. For now and for the foreseeable future, Disney has found a way to keep kids wanting plastic Luke Skywalker toys.