Tencent, the China-based multinational known for WeChat and a host of mobile games, reportedly announced to staff that was creating a unit dedicated building out its XR offerings.

As reported by Reuters, Tencent allegedly told staff on Monday about the official formation of a unit tasked with building up its XR business, which is said to include both software and hardware projects. The internal XR unit was supposedly launched in secrecy earlier this year.

Tencent Games Global’s Chief Technology Officer Li Shen is said to head the unit, and it will be a wing of its Interactive Entertainment business group. It’s also said the company is aiming to hire over 300 staff members to fill various XR roles.

The report maintains that Tencent founder and chief executive Pony Ma views the XR unit as a passion project, underling the importance of the metaverse by dubbing it in 2020 an “all-real internet.” Tencent has yet to comment on the information alleged in the report.

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This follows continued downsizing by Tencent, first announced in May. At the time, it was said the Shenzhen-based company would reduce its headcount to between 10%-15% this year alone.

At least within China, it seems Tencent is primarily looking to compete with TikTok parent company ByteDance, which acquired Chinese VR headset creator Pico Interactive for an estimated $775 million in August 2021.

However with ByteDance pouring millions into VR developer support, it’s clear the target is a wider launch in Western markets, with the company’s Quest 2 competitor, Pico Neo 3 Link, now available in Europe and coming soon the United States.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • MeowMix

    Reddit VR

  • xyzs

    Good to see competition.
    Can’t wait to see the result of asian rnd vs american rnd to see who wins.

    • Anonymous

      But its Chinese. Communism is the source of all evil to humanity as a whole. This is not business competition. It is a system built for oppression and must be stopped at all costs.

  • Andrew Jakobs

    They should join that other metaverse group which already has some major players, this splintering isn’t going to move it forward. It’s better to have one standard.

    • sebrk

      Maybe you missed it but the world is now back to two fractions: East and West. Something something Putin..Xi…dictatorship…

      This is what the future holds. Two fractions. Just like in the movies. Question is: which one will be the free and open one? Probably none.

      • And that is the irony of it all. Do you support the east with it’s racial enslavement, or the west, with it’s mind-numbing oppressive taxation system? How does one define “free and open” after the collapse of globalization?

        • Anonymous

          How is this even a dilemma?
          West is the lesser of two evils because at least you are giving a scoundrel government money to kill more people.

          • Anonymous

            Typo.
            “at least you are NOT giving a scoundrel government more money to kill more people.”

          • Heh, they’re ALL scoundrel governments.

      • Lo Pan

        What’s to know.
        The West-A-Verse will be a place inundated by lootboxes and ads, and a convenient jungle where the East-A-Verse people will devote 90% of their time blending into that mess so they can run their scams on the Westerners.
        So now you finally get to meet “Steve from Customer Support” in avatar form when he tries to grift you for gift cards, renew your car warranty, and tell you about hot VR MILFs in your area.

        • Corellianrogue

          I can’t wait for Pierogi and Kitboga, using granny avatars, to meet Steve, lol!

      • Max-Dmg

        lol their metaverse will probably be as censored as their real life. It’ll be boring.

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  • silvaring

    You forgot the massive censorship… if only ads were the only difference : /

    • Max-Dmg

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  • Shuozhe Nan

    Weixin/Wechat VR would even get my parents to buy into VR.. dad got a fold to use weixin more effective (his words, only other installed app is a golf app and banking app not available on huawei)