Disney+ has seen a slowdown in growth as of late, but the company appears to have plans to expand to the metaverse.
On Wednesday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek told reporters in a corporate earnings call that Disney+ had seen its slowest growth since the app launched in 2019, according to Variety.
Disney+ added 2.1 million subscribers in the last three months, which was one-fifth of what experts expected, per Variety.
Chapek said the dip was related to the COVID-19 pandemic and that a bounce-back was expected, especially with more projects on the way.
Per AV Club, Chapek said that Disney is looking beyond Disney+ to the potential metaverse. Yeah, you read that right — a Disney version of the metaverse.
“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, 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,” he said, per AV Club.
The announcement came one day before Disney+ Day, the annual celebration of the streaming service that offers a glimpse of new projects, trailers and series coming to Disney+. The day works as a way for Disney to highlight new projects for potential investors, too.
We’ve heard a lot about the metaverse recently. Facebook reorganized its company under the name Meta as the social networking platform aims to create a metaverse experience, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
“The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection. Our company’s vision is to help bring the metaverse to life, so we are changing our name to reflect our commitment to this future,” according to Meta.com.
So what is the metaverse? Well, it’s a concept that blends augmented reality, virtual reality and the real world together, giving people an experience that blends reality and virtual worlds. In some cases, people may need to wear virtual reality headsets to experience a virtual world where you can create your own avatar that will attend meetings, concerts and more. The metaverse could have its own digital products, experiences and currencies.
For example, you might wear a headset and attend a virtual meeting at work, where all of your co-workers are wearing different outfits. Or, you might attend a virtual concert in a video game.
For Disney, the metaverse might include visiting virtual reality versions of Disneyland, or a metaverse Disneyland where you can experience different games, movies and presentations.
We’ll have to see where this goes. But from the looks of things, Disney isn’t slowing down with Disney+ and its streaming service. The company clearly has sights on something bigger — an entirely new virtual universe.