Metaverse. From a simple buzzword a few months ago, it has grown to a full-fledged investment trend in the US, with Meta and Microsoft betting big bucks on it becoming the new way to do things, from investing to socializing. But how are China’s tech giants involved?
What Is Exactly The Metaverse?
The metaverse refers to digital spaces much more advanced than virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality. It is about extending reality into shared virtual spaces, which are modeled in a 3D environment.
The basic idea of the metaverse is not complicated. Simply put, the metaverse includes any digital experience on the Internet that is persistent, immersive, three-dimensional, and virtual.
An Opportunity To Not Miss
Chinese companies are looking to keep up with the American competitors’ head start on a potential revolutionary technology and a market that Morgan Stanley sees growing to USD 8 trillion in China alone.
During an earnings call in November last year, Tencent CEO Pony Ma claimed that the metaverse would be an opportunity to add growth to existing industries such as games. He added that the company has a lot of technological components and know-how to explore and develop the metaverse.
Baidu The Chinese Google
The Chinese group presented last December a parallel universe titled Xi Rang (“Land of Hope”). It will allow its users to interact with others, playing, having fun, learning, shopping, displaying advertisements, attending conferences are all activities that the company says will be possible in the metaverse.
Alibaba
The e-commerce giant recently registered a new company named Yuanjing Shengsheng in Beijing to explore the possibilities of the “gaming-metaverse”. Additionally, the company registered the Chinese version of the trademarks “Ali Metaverse”, “Taobao Metaverse” and “DingDing Metaverse”. With these different initiatives, Jack Ma probably has several ideas in mind to compete with American Big Tech and their metaverse projects.
What The Chinese Government Is Saying
There is a political impetus in China for a national metaverse, but the government aims to build it according to Chinese standards, a local adaptation of the market economy.
It promotes the application of the metaverse in areas such as utilities, business offices, social entertainment, and gaming.
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