Chapek Discusses Disney’s Future Metaverse
The idea of the metaverse continues to pop up in discussions surrounding virtual reality, and Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek noted yesterday that the digital world also presents the “future of Disney.” Chapek made the comments, documented in a Boston Herald article, to New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft during a Boston College Executive Club event.
Last week, Chapek also discussed the Disney’s move to the metaverse during the company’s quarterly earnings call, in which Chapek noted that the metaverse allows for “storytelling without boundaries.”
Disney+ appears to be the platform of choice for Disney’s metaverse experience, according to Chapek in a later MSNBC interview.
“It’s a little bit hard to understand because it’s not yet been created, but I think when you’re the Walt Disney Company you have this unique ability to take the physical manifestations of peoples’ lives and blend it with the digital existence that they have. And to do that in a unique way that when you have parks and a digital platform, like Disney Plus, no one else has that ability to do it,” Chapek said during the Boston event, according to the Boston Herald article.
Last week, Chapek noted that headsets may not be required in the Disney metaverse experience. During his chat at the Boston Harbor Hotel, he futher elaborated on the “cohesive, untethered way” that Disney plans to engage users in the metaverse, according to the Herald article.
The Metaverse Expands
The Walt Disney Company joins a list of tech firms already engaging in development of the metaverse, a collision of virtual and physical worlds. Roblox, Epic (creator of Fortnite), Microsoft and Meta (formerly known as Facebook) all boast their own metaverse environments that are currently in development.
Feature Image Credit: Matt Stroshane/Disney Parks