Disney disbands metaverse-related division

The Walt Disney Company has closed its metaverse-related division. The WSJ reports this, citing sources.

The department employs about 50 people — almost all of them will be laid off, according to sources.

According to the publication, the decision was taken as part of a broader restructuring plan. The company aims to cut its operating costs by $5.5 billion and to lay off 7,000 employees within two months.

Presumably, Disney’s virtual-worlds division was created in February 2022 to provide audiences with new ways to interact with familiar characters and stories.

In the same month, former president and CEO Robert Iger expressed concern about copyright infringement in the NFT sector.

In July, Disney included the project Polygon in its 2022 accelerator program. It focuses on augmented reality technologies, non-fungible tokens and artificial intelligence.

In September the company published a vacancy for a chief legal officer to work on deals involving NFTs, metaverses, blockchain and decentralized finance.

Earlier, in March 2023, Animoca Brands reduced the target for its metaverse fund by 20% — to $800 million. The company’s initial plan envisaged investments of $2 billion.

Earlier, Coinbase, ConsenSys, Genesis Trading, Blockchain.com, Gemini, Luno, Matrixport, Chainalysis, Bittrex, Messari and a number of other companies reported optimization.

Since the start of the year, Microsoft laid off about 10,000 people. PayPal cut about 7% of its staff (2,000 employees).