Avalanche Software

Avalanche Software, LLC is an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah, founded in October 1995 by four video game programmers formerly of Sculptured Software, John Blackburn, Todd Blackburn, James Michael Henn and Gary Penacho. The studio was acquired by Buena Vista Games (later renamed Disney Interactive Studios) in May 2005, and spent the next ten years developing Disney-related titles, including the toys-to-life game Disney Infinity (2013). In May 2016, due to a declining toys-to-life games market overshadowed by the popularity of mobile gaming, Disney decided to step out of the video game industry, closing Disney Interactive Studios and all of its subsidiaries, including Avalanche Software. In January 2017, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced that they had acquired Avalanche Software, re-opened the company and saw John Blackburn return as chief executive officer.

History
Avalanche Software was incorporated on October 3, 1995, by John Blackburn, Todd Blackburn, James Michael Henn and Gary Penacho, four programmers that previously worked at Sculptured Software.

On April 19, 2005, Buena Vista Games (later renamed Disney Interactive Studios), the video game publishing arm of The Walt Disney Company, announced that they had acquired Avalanche Software for an undisclosed sum. In November 2006, Buena Vista Games formed a sister studio, Fall Line Studio, that would create Disney titles for Nintendo DS and Wii platforms. Disney Interactive Studios (DIS) merged Fall Line Studio into its sister studio, Avalanche Software, in January 2009.

In October 2012, Disney Interactive Studios announced "Toy Box", a cross platform gaming initiative where Pixar and Disney characters will interact from a console game to multiple mobile and online applications. In January 2013, Avalanche Software unveiled the toys-to-life cross-platform game Disney Infinity based on Toy Story 3: The Video Game's "Toy Box" mode crossed with a toy line.

On May 10, 2016, with a lack of growth in toys-to-life market and increasing developmental costs, Disney discontinued Disney Infinity and closed down Avalanche Software, and Disney Interactive Studios as a whole. Many former Avalanche Software workers were employed by castAR to create a new studio in Salt Lake City.

On January 24, 2017, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced it had acquired the studio from Disney, including its Octane engine software, and re-opened the studio, with John Blackburn returning as its CEO. The studio's first title under their new owner was Cars 3: Driven to Win, a companion game based on the Cars 3 film.