OpenAI Is Shutting Down Sora Six Months After Launch

OpenAI discontinued its Sora video-generation app and website on April 26, 2026, and will shut down the Sora API on September 24, 2026, roughly six months after the product's launch.

The product had reportedly been burning about $1 million a day in compute costs. Its user base collapsed over the same stretch, from around 1 million users down to under 500,000.

The shutdown took OpenAI's partnership with Disney down with it. That partnership had reportedly included a plan for a $1 billion equity stake tied to Sora, and by Bloomberg's reporting, Disney learned of the shutdown less than an hour before OpenAI's public announcement.

A product burning seven figures a day in compute while its user base is cut in half isn't a story about generative video failing as a category, other video tools are still very much in play. It's a story about how fast a flagship launch can unwind when usage and cost move in opposite directions, and about how little warning even a headline partner like Disney got before the plug came out.