disney It is reportedly shutting down its Metaverse business as part of a major job cut.
The entertainment giant has closed the division that worked on its Metaverse strategy as part of plans to cut about 7,000 jobs at Disney, according to The Wall Street Journal. report Tuesday (March 28).
Overseen by former Disney consumer products executive Mike White, the 50-person department was responsible for figuring out how to tell interactive stories in new formats, but using Disney’s wealth of intellectual property. said the report, citing an anonymous source.
As reported here last month, Disney is embarking on a major restructuring. Bob Iger It is a driving force for “putting creativity back at the heart of the company.”
At the same time, Iger also revealed that Disney’s primary focus is returning to profitability, and that goal requires $5.5 billion in cost savings.
Disney first revealed its ambitions for the Metaverse last year. Former CEO Bob Chapek said he was “blown away” by the company’s team’s experimentation with the Metaverse and virtual his reality, describing it as “the next great storytelling frontier.”
Also excited about the Metaverse is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who expects 1 billion people to live in virtual spaces by 2030.
As PYMNTS’ Karen Webster wrote earlier this week, Meta reportedly lost six times what it made on the Metaverse in an attempt to attract users. And despite the shrinking market cap, Zuckerberg says his company will invest 20% of his earnings in the Metaverse every year going forward.
“There is only one problem,” Webster wrote. “Most people, like almost everyone, don’t want to give up the physical world to live in it primarily through an avatar.”
In another interview with PYMNTS this week, world line metaverse head Sasha Munger The company, which will soon open a virtual shopping mall, said that for the Metaverse to be truly successful, it needs to speed up technology development.
“Once you buy a hoodie for your virtual avatar, you want to use it in different worlds, not just one,” Münger says. “Blockchain-based NFT technology is useful because, as an owner, you can connect your wallet to different worlds.”
