Walt Disney is looking to get into the metaverse, a report from LA Times says.
The company, known for providing realistic experiences bringing its characters to life in various ways in its parks, will be trying to keep up with the new ways to deal with future strategies, with the new version of the internet blending the real and digital worlds.
The Burbank entertainment giant is looking to have a strategy influenced by futurists, tech executives and metaverse executives. The company is calling this “next-generation storytelling.”
Mike White, the Disney exec working on that space, had met with senior leaders on a metaverse strategy. White has been reportedly meeting with leaders in numerous Disney businesses, trying to get a task force ready to try and set up models to try and deal with the emerging tech.
The current meeting involved leadership like Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution Chair Kareem Daniel and Parks, Experiences and Products Chair Josh D’Amaro, plus creative executives from parks and Imagineering, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic, the report says.
CEO Bob Chapek has said he supports the metaverse, calling it a “third dimension of the canvas” for creatives as of February this year.
The report says a Disney parks exec had published an essay talking about a future where wearables would be used to “transcend the physical and digital barrier.”
In other metaverse news, PYMNTS wrote that Meta, the Facebook parent, was recently announced to be doubling down on various things like short-form video, AI in social media and various new metaverse hardware.
See more: Meta to Launch Horizon Metaverse in 2022
The report says Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been talking about the Horizon Metaverse and the Meta Quest 2 augmented reality and VR headgear.
He also teased metaverse products to be released later in the year.
He said Meta’s transition to short-form video hadn’t monetized as well, though the company was optimistic about everything in the long term.
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