Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro wants Disney+ to become an "everything app" — a one-stop digital hub for streaming, theme park reservations, merchandise shopping, and whatever else the Mouse House can cram into a single interface. And if that sounds like a terrible idea, congratulations on paying attention to the last decade of tech.
According to The Verge, D'Amaro envisions Disney+ as more than just a place to watch The Mandalorian. He wants it to be where you book your Disneyland trip, buy your Frozen merchandise, and presumably plan your entire existence around the Disney brand.
Here's the thing: "everything apps" almost never work. Facebook tried it with Messenger. Snapchat tried it with, well, everything. Twitter — sorry, X — is currently trying it with Elon Musk's vision of a WeChat-style super-app. None of them have cracked the Western market, because Western consumers don't actually want one app to rule them all. They want apps that do specific things well.
Disney+ launched in 2019 with a clear value proposition: all your Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars content in one place. That simplicity drove massive adoption. Now, Disney seems determined to complicate it by turning the streaming service into a digital theme park/shopping mall/travel agency hybrid.
The streaming wars have clearly left Disney desperate for differentiation. With subscriber growth slowing and profitability still elusive, the company is throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. But adding theme park booking to a streaming app isn't innovation — it's feature creep.
