"The metacosm is the future of Disney."
According to foreign media reports on November 16, Disney CEO Bob Chapek held a dialogue with Kraft Group CEO Robert Kraft in Boston on Monday, and the two sides talked about the metaverse.
Bob Chapek said disneyland plus the Disney+ digital platform gives the company unmatched meta-universe building capabilities. He believes that the metacosm is the direction of the next generation. He also imagined the future, saying fans were expected to have lunch with Disney princesses in the metaverse.
This isn't the first time Bob Chapek has talked about the metacosm.
After the U.S. stock market on November 10, Disney disclosed its fiscal 2021 fourth quarter report and annual report. Fiscal fourth-quarter (as at Oct. 2) revenue of $18,534 million, up 26% year-over-year; net income of $159 million, a year-over-year turnaround; and adjusted earnings per share of 37 cents, lower than market expectations. Disney added 2.1 million Disney+ subscribers in the quarter, bringing the total number of subscriptions to 118 million, falling short of market expectations, and Disney+ contributed an average of $4.12 per subscriber per month, down 9% year-over-year.
Bob Chapek said on a subsequent earnings call that he was ready to integrate the company's physical and digital assets into the metacosm.
"Walt Disney has a long history of using technology to enhance entertainment experience covers, and our efforts to date are just the beginning, and next, we will be able to more closely connect the physical and digital worlds, allowing us to continue to tell stories freely in our own Disney metaverse, and we look forward to creating opportunities for consumers to experience the Disney platform and products wherever they are." Bob Chapek said.
Previously, Disney has partnered with Lucasfilm's ILMxLAB to turn The Disneyland ride Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge into a VR game.
However, the news of Disney's entry into the meta-universe has not dispelled the impact of weak performance on investor confidence. At the opening of the US stock market on the 11th, Disney fell more than 9.0%, and the intraday market value shrank to about $282.5 billion, surpassed by Netflix.
It is worth mentioning that during the reporting period, Disney's "Out of Control Player" is a metaverse theme movie. The film is set in an online game called Liberty City, in which Guy is a virtual character (NPC) who is suddenly awakened by player Millie one day and no longer repeats monotonous actions according to the established procedure. Millie is actually the original developer of Liberty City, after the game's underlying code was stolen, she has been searching the game for evidence to fight back, and the awakened Cover has become her partner, and the two have embarked on a thrilling adventure in the virtual world.
The film was released on August 27, 2021 in Chinese mainland, and has now grossed 613 million yuan at the box office with a Douban rating of 7.5.
Companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Disney are betting on metaverses, meaning there is a growing belief that this emerging virtual space will unleash a wave of money in the real world.
However, the metacosm is still in the conceptual stage. Proponents of metaversals say the new digital world will have a profound impact on everyday life, no less than the Internet or the iPhone.
At the same time, the metaverse digital world can provide people with new ways to shop. Brent Thill, an analyst at jefferies in charge of the tech industry at investment bank Jefferies, said: "I think this commercial capability will be amazing because people will be able to see these virtual goods with their own eyes, rather than just look at the pictures, people can rotate the goods, observe them, and try on or try on various goods." "
But opponents of the metacosm argue that the so-called metacosm is nothing more than a cyberpunk utopia that looks real.
Liu Cixin, a well-known science fiction writer, sternly criticized, "Zuckerberg's metaverse is not the future, and the metacosm will eventually lead mankind to death."
Bob Chapek believes that Disney has always been good at using technology to enhance the entertainment experience. The metaverse will be equated with a three-dimensional, immersive screen, allowing Disney to present the story to the audience in a different way.
For now, though, Disney hasn't revealed any details about the metaverse or ongoing plans. U.S. stocks fell slightly by 0.18% after hours on November 15.
The author | Li Weiluo
Editor| Zeng Xiantian