If you saw that "Disney Metaverse" was trending on Twitter and wanted to know what newfangled tech the House of Mouse had up its sleeve, then I'm sorry to say that Disney's plans and messaging have been...mixed, to say the least.

To save you the trouble of rifling through a bunch of confusing articles and flowery speeches by Disney CEO Bob Chapek, here are some key takeaways about Disney's venture into "next-generation storytelling."

What is the Disney Metaverse?

1. It sounds an awful lot like Pokemon GO

Amid all the empty buzzwords, one principle seems the most concrete, and that's the combination of the physical and the virtual worlds. Chapek emphasizes Disney's theme parks as being the embodiment of the physical world, while he sites virtual and digital media as signifying the virtual world...and then somehow threw the streaming service Disney+ into the mix.

While that may sound confusing at first, it really isn't once you start thinking about real-world applications of such a concept. Because once you do, you inevitably come to the thought of: Isn't combining physical and virtual worlds basically going to be some form of augmented reality (AR)?

I know that Chapek wants to position Disney as an entertainment and technological innovator, but for the greater public, that concept has already been done - by the 2016 game Pokemon GO, to be exact - which makes the Disney Metaverse seem much less impressive. I know I'm not the only one who thinks this way.

2. It blends Disney+ with Disney's theme parks?

When discussing with my coworkers how this could possibly work in the real world, we could only think of one possible application.

Putting aside the idea of Bob Chapek being a man in his 60's who may not fully grasp the limits of what a streaming service can do, we thought that it could be possible that Disney is planning to integrate original content on Disney+ that can only be unlocked while on location with the theme park's Genie app. And while there's not yet mention of capturing little pocket monsters, this is already starting to sound a lot like Pokemon GO again.

However, regardless of the direction, this Disney+ plus theme park idea goes, rest assured that the Disney Metaverse will almost certainly cash in on nostalgia and feature your favorite Disney IP characters from the Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney Princess franchises.

3. Mike White is in charge of metaverse strategy as "Senior Vice President of Next Generation Storytelling and Consumer Experiences"

If you're wondering who's at the head of this massive leap into the "future of entertainment," then know that it's not CEO Bob Chapek.

Instead, back in February 2022, it was announced that Chapek had appointed Mike White to be the Senior Vice President of Next Generation Storytelling and Consumer Experiences.

Despite spending over a decade at Disney, White does have a background in tech, working for Yahoo and then GeoCities (goodness, it's been a while since I've seen that name) before leading "technology organizations" for Disney Parks Experiences and Products, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, and Disney Interactive.

So, I guess you know who's at fault if you run into any frustrating technology bumps when exploring the Disney Metaverse.

4. Early plans were first touched upon in a conference call with Disney investors

From what I can tell, it seems that most of this hubbub surrounding Disney's plans to foray into the metaverse stems from a mysterious conference call with Disney investors. And while all reports on the call state that Chapek made broad statements and no exact plans, his words do seem to indicate the company's intent to pursue entertainment in the metaverse space and that those plans are in their beginning stages.

In an article in the Motley Fool, Chapek was quoted as describing Disney's Metaverse media "to be less of a passive type experience where you just have playback, whether it's a sporting event or whether it's an entertainment offering, and more of an interactive lean forward, actively engaged type experience."

While it might be frustrating to not hear concrete details about Disney's Metaverse plans, it makes sense within the context of an investor call. Most likely, Chapek mentioned the metaverse merely to signal to investors the company's intent to pursue innovative technology, so they will continue to invest in the technology's research and development. So, in all likelihood, we'll have to hold tight for a while before further Disney Metaverse details will be released.

5. Disney's claim to fame regarding their history of using technology for storytelling is...Steamboat Willie?

In a surprising twist, Chapek attempted to use the 1928 Mickey Mouse cartoon Steamboat Willie as evidence of Disney's "history of innovation in storytelling." And while Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound, which was impressive back in 1928, it seems weird to tout this achievement in 2022 when talking about "three-dimensional canvases" and the metaverse. Were there no more recent technological accomplishments that Disney could name?

This may be a sore point for Disney, as the same article named some of Disney's technological misses from the last few years, including an online children's social network called Club Penguin, which was shut down in 2017, and its purchases of Playdom in 2010 and Maker Studios, a YouTube network, in 2014.

6. Disney wants to "enable" the creatives behind their TV shows, movies, music, and theme park attractions to work on the Disney Metaverse

In an interview he gave to Bloomberg Technology, Bob Chapek mentioned wishing to take the creatives behind their TV shows, movies, music, and theme park attractions and "enable" them to create within the Disney Metaverse. This remark seems to indicate that the Disney team isn't hoping to bring in a new team to tackle the metaverse. Instead, Disney wishes to continue relying on the creatives who they already work with and simply giving them a new medium to work in.

While this is great and ensures that these creatives will continue to have work and evolve their skills, working in a new medium isn't easy. I really hope that the employees who will be now diverting their time and energy towards creating in the metaverse will be properly compensated since that will constitute additional duties. We've already seen how streaming affected how actors and crew members working below the line on film productions are paid.

Let's hope that something similar doesn't happen to the metaverse due to the relative unknown nature of this new entertainment frontier.

7. The technology Disney speaks of is not there yet...even Zuckerberg thinks so!

While it's tempting to think of ourselves as being so much more technologically advanced than previous generations, sometimes the technological heights that corporations dream up simply don't yet exist. I had that distinct feeling while listening to the vague assertions Chapek made regarding his vision for the Disney Metaverse.

As someone who used to work for a company that relied heavily on A.I. and machine learning, I understand how the media and corporations can sometimes oversell a technology's reach. Which is why I wasn't surprised when I read that even Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the company that probably established the metaverse in popular lexicon, doesn't seem to regularly use the metaverse to the extent Chapek describes.

Instead, both Zuckerberg and Microsoft seem to primarily use the metaverse to hold virtual meetings with avatars, which is a far cry from asking creatives to "paint on that third dimension and don't necessarily constrain it with typical definitions of what's a book, what's a recording, what's a movie..." I hope putting the Disney Metaverse in context with Zuckerberg and Microsoft helps serve as a reality check for how long we might have to wait before Disney's version of the metaverse becomes remotely possible.

8. It sounds like a bunch of older Luddites who want to find the "next big thing"

While it's commendable that a huge media entity like Disney wants to stay ahead of the times, it's tough to take Chapek's public statements about the Disney Metaverse seriously.

One of the reasons why this may be the case is because Disney's leadership is trying to convince a growing digital native audience that they know best about the evolution of technology when they are so-called digital immigrants. However, with current generations growing up with the very technology these media companies are attempting to harness, it's easier for these generations to spot improbable technological claims and call them out.

Chapek's tone and flowery language when speaking about the Disney Metaverse doesn't help. And since he doesn't speak in specifics, it becomes even easier to discount Chapek's claims as some kind of bizarre publicity stunt, as if Chapek was trying to put up some kind front to convince us all that Disney is a technology firm, instead of the 99 year-old entertainment company that it really is.

Regardless, it's way too early to fully discount Disney's Metaverse plans. And as technology improves, we look forward to Disney's attempt to innovate in their storytelling. We can only hope that the Mouse House will prove me wrong in the near future and take us all to the next level of entertainment.

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