Disney is no longer interested in the Metaverse. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the one-hundred-year-old media and entertainment company has eliminated the small division charged with ‘developing metaverse strategies.’ The move is part of a company-wide downsizing plan to reduce Disney’s workforce by 7,000 in the next two months. ‘The difficult reality of many colleagues and friends leaving Disney is not something we take lightly,’ Disney CEO Bob Iger wrote in an internal memo. ‘This company is home to the most talented and dedicated employees in the world, and so many of you bring a lifelong passion for Disney to your work here. That’s part of what makes working at Disney so special. It also makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye to wonderful people we care about,’ he added. Other divisions affected by the layoffs include Disney Entertainment, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, and corporate.
Disney Had Only Begun Venturing into the Metaverse
The sudden end to Disney’s Metaverse ambitions comes less than a year after the company enthusiastically embraced the industry, picking six startups to participate in its annual Disney Accelerator program. The six companies specialised in Web3, augmented reality (AR), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and artificial intelligence. The Ethereum layer two scaling solution, Polygon (MATIC), was the only blockchain project chosen by Disney in last year’s accelerator program. Disney additionally hinted that its Metaverse strategy might include fantasy sports, theme-park attractions and other customer-centric experiences. CEO Iger had also been bullish on the Metaverse last year, having invested in and joined the board of Genies Inc., a startup that allows users to create online avatars for use in the Metaverse.
Facebook’s Meta has Also ‘Dumped’ the Metaverse
However, Disney is not the only major global company backtracking on its quest to conquer the Metaverse. In late February, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg quietly shifted focus away from the Metaverse by introducing ‘a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI to turbocharge’ the company’s work in this artificial intelligence arena.
