Disney CEO Bob Chapek Hires New Executive to Strategise Metaverse Plans

Disney has appointed a new executive to drive its metaverse strategy as the media group tries to push innovation to attract audiences. Disney Chief Executive Bob Chapek sent an email to employees recently announcing that Mike White, a current executive in Disney's Media and Entertainment Distribution group, would take on the new role as Senior Vice President of Next Generation Storytelling and Consumer Experiences. White's new role at Disney will see him build out a proper leadership team around the metaverse concept and shape Disney's specific ideals on this new frontier.

According to a report by Reuters, the new role will define how consumers experience Disney's coming metaverse, working alongside creative teams in the company. “For nearly 100 years, our company has defined and re-defined entertainment by leveraging technology to bring stories to life in deeper, more impactful ways,” Chapek wrote in the email to staff. “Today, we have an opportunity to connect those universes and create an entirely new paradigm for how audiences experience and engage with our stories,” he added.

Chapek announced Disney's plans to enter the metaverse last November, which he said would advance storytelling by combining elements of the physical and digital world. This puts Disney alongside tech firms Meta and Microsoft, which have both committed to driving innovation in the Web3 world.

Chapek has described the metaverse as the “next great storytelling frontier,” and one of the company's strategic pillars.

In early January, we'd heard murmurs that Disney was approved a patent for a “virtual-world simulator”. The technology would project 3D images and virtual effects onto physical spaces, according to the US Patent Office. This brings the firm one step closer to creating metaverse theme parks.

According to his LinkedIn profile, White has been with Disney now for over a decade. He first started out as Senior Vice President of Disney Interactive and has risen to take on bigger and more interesting avenues. White previously served as Chief Technology Officer for Apollo Group and earlier spent a decade at Yahoo.