Disney Wins the Metaverse

Disney has already won the metaverse.

While VCs make their bets on metaverse maybes and headlines continue to argue over hyperbolic claims, Disney patented a technology that facilitates a hands free, augmented reality experience for theme park visitors. Leaning into their imagineering magic, Disney’s take on the metaverse will likely prove victorious, and will perhaps even pave the way for consumer acceptance and mass adoption.

As Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek put it, “We’ll be able to connect the physical and digital worlds even more closely, allowing for storytelling, without boundaries in our own Disney Metaverse”

With their storytelling capacity, creative technology and supreme fan cultivation, Disney’s flywheel will naturally progress from multi-channel storytelling experience to immersive storytelling phenomenon — powered by fearless fans and beloved IP.

“Audiences have an unending desire for ‘more’ of the stories they already love,” metaverse maven Matthew Ball writes. Disney’s fans will always want more opportunities to be a part of their favorite stories. By initiating their virtual experience through the theme park, fans will see the metaverse as a continuation of their favorite IP and opportunity to create. Rather than being forced fed the metaverse from tech oligarchs, Disney’s metaverse uses its storytelling and audience love to make the metaverse a natural next step in consumer driven experiences.

Would most parents let their 6 years old spend the day with Moana in the Disney-created, parent-approved, metaverse? Or what about a mother and daughter practicing their lightsaber skills at home, while dueling Rey and Obi-wan avatars? How about continuing your Jungle Cruise adventure in the car ride home from Disneyland with your personal XR enabled toy? Disney’s storytelling flywheel will outlast any technological innovation or consumer adoption headache. As long as Disney keeps cultivating imagination and love, there’s nothing they can’t do.