OpenAI retreats on Sora; App Store underwhelms

Wall Street Journal reporting cited by TechCrunch showed Sora’s active user base peaked around 1 million before falling to under 500,000 and the product was burning roughly $1 million per day in compute costs, according to internal figures reported to staff. (techcrunch.com) Bloomberg’s coverage says Disney had agreed to license more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters and to take a $1 billion stake via stock warrants as part of a multiyear arrangement that has now been wound down. (bloomberg.com) Sora’s public rollout began with invite‑only access on Sept. 30, 2025, it surged to the top of Apple’s App Store, recorded about 4.8 million downloads in October and 6.1 million in November before dropping to roughly 1.1 million the following month, and OpenAI posted a notice about discontinuation on March 24, 2026. (forbes.com) OpenAI opened ChatGPT to third‑party app submissions on Dec. 17–18, 2025 via an Apps SDK, but Bloomberg reports that six months in there are only a little over 300 integrations and developers complain about a slow approval process, buggy tooling and limited usage metrics. (openai.com) Bloomberg also reports the company is reallocating resources toward AI agents and an internal model called “Spud,” and that leadership announced a reorganization of some security and safety teams to fold into that product focus. (bloomberg.com) CNBC and Reuters coverage notes OpenAI is actively preparing for a potential public listing later in 2026–2027, has been hiring financial and investor‑relations executives including Cynthia Gaylor to shore up messaging, and observers say operational hits like Sora add to scrutiny from prospective IPO investors. (cnbc.com)