OpenAI is pulling the plug on its Sora video generation app. “We’re saying goodbye to Sora,” the company announced in an X post published Tuesday afternoon. OpenAI hasn’t yet said exactly when the app and its related API service will stop working, promising to share those details later.
An OpenAI spokesperson told Engadget, “We’ve decided to discontinue Sora in the consumer app and API. As we focus and compute demand grows, the Sora research team continues to focus on world simulation research to advance robotics that will help people solve real-world, physical tasks.” This indicates a strategic shift towards more tangible AI applications.
While this news might surprise some, there were signs that Sora was heading this way since the beginning of the year. Sora initially topped the US App Store charts after it launched, but interest in the platform seemed to fade quickly afterward. Data from analytics firm Appfigures showed that by early 2026, the app was seeing month-over-month drops in both new downloads and user spending. In December alone, a time when most apps usually do well, Sora reportedly saw a 32 percent decline in new downloads compared to November.
This shutdown also fits with OpenAI’s recent change in strategy. Ever since they released GPT-5.2, which was their “code red” response to Google’s Gemini 3 Pro model, OpenAI has been trying to attract professionals like coders and data analysts. They are focusing on systems that are really good in those areas, seeing enterprise customers as a key path to making money.
However, today’s shutdown comes with an extra cost for OpenAI. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney is backing out of a deal it made with the AI lab late last year. As a result, Disney will no longer invest $1 billion into OpenAI, marking a significant financial hit linked to the Sora discontinuation. This development highlights the challenges and risks even leading AI companies face in the rapidly evolving market.
