Following the success of Kingdom Hearts, Disney considered further expanding cross-over collaborations among its characters and discussed developing a fighting game similar to Super Smash Bros. However, this concept never progressed into actual production.
Ken Christiansen, a former concept designer at Disney Interactive, recently recalled that the Kingdom Hearts project initially faced significant resistance from Disney's US division. The company was reluctant to let characters from different franchises cross over into each other's worlds, such as combining The Lion King and The Little Mermaid in the same game.
The first Kingdom Hearts was released in 2002 and became one of the best-selling titles on the PlayStation 2. According to Christiansen, the game broke down Disney's previous restrictions and prompted producers to discuss more crossover projects, including a fighting game featuring Disney characters.
The fighting game concept was titled Disney Action Figure Showdown. Several other project proposals emerged within Disney at the time, but few gained real traction as the company shifted its focus toward lower-risk TV or movie tie-in games.
Disney Action Figure Showdown never saw an official release. Traces of the concept later appeared in Disney Infinity, a physical toy-based interactive sandbox game developed by Avalanche Software and first launched in 2013, which also brought together characters from multiple Disney franchises.
There is currently almost no direct evidence detailing the specific development state of Disney Action Figure Showdown, and its intended platforms remain unconfirmed. Available information only indicates that Disney discussed the project following the success of Kingdom Hearts, but it ultimately never came to fruition.