Disney disbands its metaverse team amid large layoff
- Disney had picked Polygon for the metaverse project.
- Disney was targeting NFTs for its next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences.
- The company is currently in the process of streamlining its business.
Disney started developing a metaverse strategy in mid-2022 and announced that they would tap the Polygon blockchain for the project. Earlier in October 2021, Citi released a report saying that Disney, Electronic Arts, and WWE were set to become some of the biggest beneficiaries of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The company further appeared to ramp up resource deployment by posting a job post for an expert in-house counsel for DeFi and NFTs in September 2022. The person Disney was looking to hire was required to be an experienced corporate attorney who would “work on transactions involving emerging technologies, including NFTs, blockchain, metaverse, and decentralized finance.”
However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Disney’s metaverse plans appeared to be still unclear a year later.
Streamlining business
Disney is currently in the process of laying off about 7,000 employees as it tries to control costs and develop what the CEO Bob Iger calls a “streamlined business.” The layoff will affect the 50 metaverse project employees.
Disbanding the next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences shows Disney is questioning the continued value of Web3.
