On February 15, Bob Chapek, CEO of Disney, at appointed a new director to lead the development of the metaverse within society. Mike White becomes senior VP at Disney and takes over as head of the department in charge of the metaverse.
Mike White takes the helm of the metaverse at Disney
Previously, Mike White was in charge of consumer experience at Disney. Prior to joining the company in 2011, White worked at major tech companies, including Yahoo. In the wake of Meta, Disney intends to occupy the ground on the subject of the metaverse and to influence the development of this new web standard. Bob Chapek didn’t provide many details on how Disney plans to make money from his metaverse, but said White’s task will be to “bringing together the virtual and real worlds”.
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The CEO of Disney specifies that “For nearly 100 years, our company has defined and redefined entertainment by leveraging technology to bring stories to life in deeper and more impactful ways”. According to him, the metaverse is the next great frontier of storytelling and the ideal place for Disney to implement its strategy of excellence and innovation. It’s not hard to imagine how Disney could explore the possibilities offered by the metaverse. We can for example guess a virtual Disneylandmuch more advanced than the existing versions in the real world, with extensive experiences in each of the Disney universes.
15 years before seeing a definitive version of the metaverse?
During his statement, Chapek also clarified that “We now have the opportunity to connect these two worlds and create a totally new paradigm to allow our users to engage differently”. However, this prospect of a virtual world at Disney seems remote. Indeed, despite investments and hype that surround the metaverse, the technology is not ready. The leaders of Meta estimate that it takes fifteen years for their vision to really materialize.
This does not prevent many companies to test new experiences. For example, Warner will create a musical amusement park in the Sandbox metaverse. The music label has associated a fine line-up of stars with its project. Are particularly expected in the musical amusement park of Warner: Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, or Green Day. Carrefour has also purchased virtual land in the Sandbox metaverse. We mention in particular the possible opening of a virtual supermarket and the sale of certified virtual products in the form of NFTs. In short, more and more projects related to the metaverse.