Digital Theme Park Platforms: The Most Important Media Businesses of the Future — MatthewBall.co

Digital theme parks, however, “are always ‘open’, ‘everywhere’, ‘full of your friends’, and impervious to COVID-19… They also boast an even larger (i.e. infinite) number of attractions and rides, none of which need be bound by the laws of physics or the need for physical safety, and all of which can be rapidly updated and personalized. These digita... See more

It’s clear that the companies that own the most beloved IP and brands will have a major role in the Metaverse, likely one that’s proportional to their relative love today.

The major tech companies, such as Amazon, Google, and Apple, are bad at IP, games, or video (if not all three). Disney excels at IP universes and is building up expertise in film-to-TV transmedia, but it has no interactive assets. At the same time, this could change quickly via acquisition — and the applicability of theme park expertise should not ... See more

There are two major waves happening today that could accelerate the creation of a new generational storytelling company:

1. Consumer shift toward interactive media (over linear/passive media, i.e. TV/film)


2. Technology advancement driven by generative AI

This is precisely the arc that we’ve watched immersive entertainment take over the last decade. It has evolved over time to address the shortcomings of the previous incarnations of mass media. It is not that the prior media and social platforms were uninteresting, rather it’s the inevitable rise of new models that better address the shortcomings of... See more

The constant changes in 1-2-3 speaks to how the entertainment industry is changing beyond “D2C SVOD”. The two clearest trends are video gaming/interactivity and multi-media/trans-media/cross-media storytelling. Taken together, this will fundamentally alter competitive dynamics, which stories we love, and how much.

At its core, an entertainment business does only three things: