Not only Microsoft and Meta, the metaverse also crosses Disney
The House of Mickey & Co had tried like many others to colonize the metaverse, but now Disney, grappling with draconian cuts, has closed the entire division. And she's not the only one who no longer believes in the new technological frontier that is sending viewer manufacturers into a crisis
It was supposed to represent the biggest revolution since the Internet and instead the metaverse currently burns only millions of dollars. Millions above all of the big names in tech and entertainment, who have thrown themselves into it without even having understood the boundaries and potential of this non-place, where absolutely nothing is happening at the moment.
METAVERSE NEW FRONTIER BUT WITHOUT A GOLD RUSH
The first to pull the oars in the boat was Microsoft which, in addition to having fired 11,000 employees last March 10, also closed AltspaceVR , the social virtual reality platform which it acquired in 2017 and which is in charge of developing solutions in this sense by hosting events and social spaces in which people can participate freely.
Microsoft attributed the decision to terminate AltspaceVR to the need to focus on Mesh, the mixed reality world unveiled in 2021 that will allow people to work remotely by integrating with many of the group's software, including Teams. According to some US media, such as Bloomberg and Windows Central , Microsoft will not only close AltspaceVR but also intends to intervene on the team that deals with the HoloLens viewers, a new version of which was expected within the year. Even the viewers, after all, as the premature demise of the Google one and the concerns relating to the Apple one show , are in crisis, as they are closely linked to the metaverse.
It is no coincidence that in the parts of Menlo Park to relaunch Horizon Worlds, the metaverse of the Meta Group, one is thinking of emancipating it from VR viewers. Zuckerberg's company wants to be able to accumulate at least 75 million users between Facebook, Instagram and VR. The first goal to be achieved is 500,000 monthly active users in the first half of 2023. Currently the number is less than 200,000. But the main problem is the "retention rate". Of course, the number of loyalists must grow: at the moment, as anticipated, only 11% of users return to Horizon Worlds the following month: the goal for this year is to reach 20%.
DISNEY CUTS THE METAVERSE
The latest out the back doors of the metaverse is Disney grappling with a strict diet to get back into the accounts . The Group, according to what sources close to the dossier told the Wall Street Journal , has already eliminated the division that developed the metaverse headed by Mike White .
All 50 team members have lost their jobs with the exception of White who will remain in the company, obviously with another role, as the squa team no longer exists. On paper, the Disney metaverse had all the credentials to break through, being able to create a virtual world in which to merge the Group's countless intellectual properties, from Aladdin to the Lion King , passing through mice, ducks and so on.
The divisions of the company to suffer the cuts are Disney Entertainment, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products and Corporate while at the moment ESPN, or the company that produces sports television channels, remains unharmed, but it is only the calm before the storm given that a second and broader round of job cuts will kick off in April, with the latest phase starting before the start of summer.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/non-solo-microsoft-e-meta-il-metaverso-va-di-traverso-pure-a-disney/ on Thu, 30 Mar 2023 09:51:36 +0000.