https://deadline.com/2022/03/bob-iger-avatar-web3-metaverse-…
Honestly, I still am unclear on what all this NFT/avatar stuff is all about. It amazes me that people pay so much money for, what…pixel images? And stored in the…cloud? Amazing that’s a thing. But…I have no choice but to consider it, and its implications.
Disney too is investing in this area, and interestingly, another article mentioned that Disney may use “the metaverse” to tell stories. I highlight the word metaverse because, I wonder if NFTs themselves can be used to distribute stories. For instance…why couldn’t DIS sell, as an NFT, deleted scenes from movies, or an unaired episode of “Modern Family,” or a “Star Wars” short film, maybe one directed by Mark Hamil? How about a “Wars” short that was a cartoon voiced by Hamil? This assumes something that maybe I am incorrect about: can an NFT store that data and then be plugged into a player? Up until now, and with the article, I primarily see this as being about the avatar image…but the metaverse has to go beyond that, right?
This leads to all kinds of options. Could celebrities make NFT messages to fans who request them, for a price? Plus, if content is sold to individuals in digital form, and not on a mass-market basis, not even on a limited basis, just one-to-one direct, is the copyright transferred too? I haven’t read this recently and only recall reading it once, but it was said that NFTs could need to pay back royalties to the NFT seller each time it is resold…this is where money can really be made, and even if it’s only incremental, then “real” incremental money can be made…hopefully DIS explores that possibility.
I wonder too if eventually, to make this seem more physical, we may see the day come where NFTs and avatars and metaverse stuff like cryptobucks are sold on storage devices similar to flash drives. Imagine investing in a device that contained a recently discovered, never-seen-before DIS cartoon…what could DIS charge for that? Could it allow several individuals/investors pay for it, then resell it, giving royalties back to DIS? In some ways it reminds me of Disney Infinity…if you remember that toy-to-life game, you had little figurines that were placed on boards that created characters in the game…plus there was new level content in some of them. I always said DIS should have hidden trailers for upcoming filmed entertainment in those collectibles…perhaps the metaverse could get a bit physical and do something like that…
Anyway, interesting to see what Iger is up to…surprised he isn’t looking to run a content studio and try to create new IP…maybe this will lead to that…