CALIFORNIA: OpenAI has publicly said it is ending the Sora app, its consumer video generation product, in a March 24 message posted on the Sora account on X that said, “We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app.” The message put a public end point on a product OpenAI had moved out of research preview in late 2024 and expanded across web and mobile in 2025 and 2026. On March 26, however, OpenAI’s main Sora pages still described Sora as an active video generation service.
That overlap was visible across OpenAI’s own documentation. A March 19 Sora release note introduced a new editor for iOS and web and said Android support was coming soon. A separate help article updated in March said Sora 1 had been removed in the United States on March 13 and that Sora 2 had become the default experience there. Another support page continued to list countries and territories where access to the Sora app and Sora 2 was supported, showing that public product materials had not yet been fully aligned around one status message.
OpenAI’s public record also included operational references to the product this month. The company’s status history showed Sora related service incidents in March, including notices about Sora video generation and Sora 2 performance. At the same time, OpenAI’s Sora overview and safety pages remained online and described the Sora 2 model and the Sora app in the present tense. Taken together, those materials showed a mixed public record on March 26, with shutdown language appearing alongside current product language on OpenAI websites and help pages.
Disney agreement remains on record
The development has direct relevance for Walt Disney Co. because the two companies announced a major Sora agreement on Dec. 11, 2025. In that release, Disney said it would become the first major content licensing partner on Sora under a three year arrangement covering more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, along with costumes, props, vehicles and environments. The companies said the deal would allow the creation of short user prompted videos for fans, and that selected fan inspired Sora videos would be made available to stream on Disney+.
Disney’s announcement also laid out a broader commercial relationship beyond character licensing. The company said it would become a major OpenAI customer, using OpenAI APIs to build new tools and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for employees. Disney also said it would make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI and receive warrants to purchase additional equity. The same release said the transaction was subject to definitive agreements, required corporate and board approvals, and customary closing conditions, language that remained part of the public record on Thursday.
Sora rollout had continued this month
Sora first entered broader public use on Dec. 9, 2024, when OpenAI said it was moving the video model out of research preview and making it available at sora.com for ChatGPT Plus and Pro users. OpenAI later expanded the product with a standalone app experience and successive feature updates, including longer video options, storyboards, styles, Android availability, extensions and editing tools. Those additions documented a steady buildout from a research demonstration into a branded consumer product distributed across web and mobile surfaces.
As of March 26, OpenAI had not posted a fuller explanation on its main site reconciling the farewell message for the Sora app with help pages and product pages that still described Sora 2 and related services as current. Disney’s December announcement with OpenAI also remained publicly available. The result is a split public record in which the most direct shutdown language appears in the Sora account message, while multiple OpenAI and Disney pages continue to document the platform’s recent updates, scope and commercial ties. – By Content Syndication Services.