Disney Cuts Metaverse Division As Part Of Mass Layoffs Of 7,000 Employees

Disney cuts its Metaverse division (photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Walt Disney Co. is reported to have removed its metaverse division as part of a staff reduction of around 7,000 employees across the company over the next two months.

First reported by The Wall Street Journal, Disney CEO Bob Iger said on Monday 27 March that the layoffs would begin this week.

The metaverse division is led by Mike White, who was promoted to the role of SVP on consumer and platform experiences in February 2022 and tasked with bringing Disney deeper into the webspace.

According to the WSJ, the unit aims to find ways to tell more interactive stories in immersive format using a wide Disney intellectual property library, but unfortunately, the division must now be stopped.

According to sources who revealed to WSJ, there are about 50 or more team members who have lost their jobs due to Disney layoffs this time. However, White is rumored to be still in the company, although it is not yet known where his duties have been moved.

This news comes after last month, Disney said it would cut 5.5 billion US dollars and cut 7,000 jobs as part of a wider restructuring.

Like many other big tech companies, Disney is feeling pressure to lower costs, and that often means stopping expensive projects that don't generate short-term revenue, especially in the metaverse sector.

Disney is also not the first company to feel pressure on the development of the metaverse, Meta has also spent a lot of money on Oculus' headsets and building a metaverse.

However, according to a TechCrunch report, users' demand is low and common confusion among users about how to use new technology for anything other than playing games. However, Mark Zuckerberg asked investors to trust him and be patient in this long-term investment.