Disney Poised To Enter Metaverse "To Enhance The Entertainment Experience"

The most popular keyword on the internet right now is metaverse, and Disney is the latest company to go on board.

Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the company is poised to make the technological leap into a virtual reality world once imagined by science fiction writers.

Since Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company's future would be dedicated to establishing a robust, three-dimensional environment where users' digital avatars could work, hang out, and pursue their hobbies, metaverse has become a popular location.

Other big businesses, including game developers Roblox Corp and Epic Games, as well as software behemoth Microsoft, are developing their own metaverses. Aside from mentioning a phrase that has enthralled Silicon Valley, Disney's strategy was noticeably lacking in specifics.

Chapek told investors on Wednesday that Disney's foray into the digital realm is in keeping with the company's long history of technological advancements, which dates back nearly a century to Steamboat Willie, the first cartoon to incorporate synchronized sound.

"Our efforts to date are merely a prologue to a time when we'll be able to connect the physical and digital worlds even more closely, allowing for storytelling without boundaries in our own Disney metaverse," Chapek said.

"We look forward to creating unparalleled opportunities for consumers to experience everything Disney has to offer across our products and platforms, wherever the consumer may be."

Chapek told CNBC that he sees it as an extension of Disney+'s streaming video service, thanks to the "three-dimensional canvas" he envisions for new types of storytelling.

Tilak Mandadi, Disney's former senior vice president of digital, wrote on LinkedIn in 2020 about developing a theme park metaverse in which the "physical and digital world converge" via wearable gadgets, smartphones, and digital access points.

Given the company's vast portfolio of intellectual property, Disney's interest in a metaverse should come as no surprise. Disney would have little trouble creating content for its own theoretically metaverse without running into pesky licensing issues across its Walt Disney properties, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, 20th Century, and plenty more, while also withholding its properties from other would-be metaverse giants if it so desired.

And, as Chapek stated, there are its experiences with crossing digital and physical borders with its parks and other live events.

It's unclear how Disney will become involved in whatever the metaverse turns out to be, but its involvement is both expected and likely to be significant once these areas begin to take shape.