Disney has recruited a senior executive to oversee the company’s metaverse strategy. A metaverse is a virtual world where people can play games, work, and communicate using virtual reality headsets.
Some of the world’s largest IT corporations are touting it as a crucial milestone in the next generation of the internet. Mike White, has been with the firm for more than ten years, will lead a group of top executives.
In a memo to colleagues published by the BBC, Chief executive Bob Chapek stated that the metaverse is “the next great storytelling frontier” to be explored. Technology behemoths like Meta, the owner of Facebook, and Microsoft are investing billions of dollars in the metaverse.
Mr. Chapek hailed the metaverse as the “ideal platform to pursue our strategic pillars of storytelling excellence, innovation, and audience attention,” according to the memo. “This new canvas is being explored by teams across the organization, and I’ve been blown away by what I’ve seen,” he said.
Mr. White has been promoted from his position as senior VP of consumer experiences and platforms at Disney to lead the studio’s push into the metaverse, which is planned to use web 3.0 technology to allow mass-scale real-time 3-D rendered simulations of real life.
According to the business, he will distribute resources, investigate collaborations, and foster knowledge sharing on the metaverse in his newly formed role. He’ll also be in charge of a team with technology, strategy, and narrative expertise.
Disney sees the metaverse as the next step in its nearly century-long storytelling history. Mr. Chapek wrote in the memo, “Today, we have an opportunity to connect those universes and establish an entirely new paradigm for how viewers perceive and engage with our tales.”
Last Monday, Disney announced that revenues at its theme parks in the United States had surpassed pre-pandemic levels. It also revealed that its Disney+ streaming service had gained 11.8 million new subscribers in the last three months of 2021, bringing the total number of subscribers to nearly 130 million globally.
Chapek spoke on Disney’s metaverse ideas during the company’s earnings call last week. “You want to call it the mixing of physical and digital experiences,” the CEO remarked. “I believe Disney should excel at it for all of the reasons you mentioned in your opening.”
“We recognize that it will be more of an engaging, lean forward, actively engaged kind experience than a passive-type experience where you just have playback, whether it’s a sporting event or an entertainment product.”
White formerly worked at Disney Parks Experiences and Products, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, and Disney Interactive, where he headed technology teams.
White was the CTO and CIO of the Apollo Group before joining Disney in 2011, where he oversaw the development of academic, social networks, mobile applications, and the construction of an educational-adaptive learning platform for third parties and universities.
The business formerly known as Facebook has placed the largest wager on the metaverse thus far. Last year, Facebook renamed itself Meta Platforms and announced plans to invest more than $10 billion (£7.4 billion) in virtual reality software and hardware.
Meanwhile, as part of its metaverse drive, Microsoft has announced the addition of 3D virtual avatars and environments to its Teams messaging system.
Published By – Vanshu Mehra
Edited By – Subbuthai Padma
