Entertainment <\/p>\n
\n\tBob Chapek<\/a>\u2019s metaverse<\/a> dream is dead at Disney.<\/p>\n \n\tThe entertainment giant shuttered its nascent metaverse division as part of Monday\u2019s layoffs, The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> has confirmed.<\/p>\n \n\tThis week\u2019s layoffs are the first round of cuts from CEO Bob Iger as he seeks to streamline the entertainment giant. Iger announced the cuts March 27 in an email to staff<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tThe division (technically called \u201cnext generation storytelling\u201d) had been a pet project of Chapek, Disney\u2019s former CEO.<\/p>\n \n\tHe first mentioned it in a November 2021 earnings call, telling analysts that \u201cour efforts to date are merely a prologue to a time when we\u2019ll be able to connect the physical and digital worlds even more closely, allowing for storytelling without boundaries in our own Disney metaverse, and 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt was also something he noted in a manifesto<\/a> to employees in January 2022, in which he used the \u201cM\u201d word as an opportunity for storytelling.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSince Steamboat Willie, we have been the world\u2019s foremost innovative storytellers,\u201d Chapek wrote at the time. \u201cThat must continue as technology evolves, giving our creative teams new canvases like the metaverse on which to paint.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHe went on to create the division, though exactly what it was working on remains unclear.<\/p>\n \n\tIn what would end up being his final public appearance<\/a> as Disney CEO, at the Paley Center for Media in New York on Nov. 9, 2022, he said that the division was building \u201ca set of tools.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe goal, he said was to \u201cput these tools in the hands of the Kathy Kennedys and the Kevin Feiges and Dana Waldens and help them really create that next level of storytelling, that is unique to you.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFor now, at least, those tools are being put back in the Disney vault.<\/p>\n \n\tThe division was run<\/a> by Mike White, a Disney Parks veteran, though the <\/em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> reports<\/a> that he will be staying at the company. The Journal<\/em> added that about 50 jobs were cut in the round of layoffs.<\/p>\n \n\tDisney is expected to undergo a larger round of layoffs next month, with a final round before summer begins in its effort to trim 7,000 jobs. Disney\u2019s TV division was also hit by cuts Monday<\/a>, with production and acquisitions most seriously impacted.<\/p>\n \n\tThe metaverse division is the second creation of Chapek to be undone since Bob Iger returned as CEO. Iger dismantled the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division, led by Chapek lieutenant Kareem Daniel, in his first move after taking over. Many of the financial roles were instead shifted into Disney\u2019s other divisions, giving those leaders oversight of revenues and profits.<\/p>\n \n\tWhile the metaverse dream might be over (even Chapek, for his part, stopped using the \u201cM\u201d word as it fell out of favor last year), the technology could still find its way into Disney\u2019s projects. It just might happen within the theme park or studio divisions themselves.<\/p>\n \n\tIger, it should be noted, is a technology enthusiast himself, having served on the board of Apple and having invested in a metaverse-related company after his retirement. He even noted in a town hall after returning the potential for AI-generated images or video to be used in Disney storytelling, though he added that was likely a long ways off.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n