Tencent said to launch extended reality business - PingWest

Tencent said to launch extended reality business

Tencent said to launch extended reality business

Zijing Fu

posted on February 16, 2022 10:36 pmEditor : Wang Boyuan

Tencent has reportedly launched a new business involving extended reality, according to Sina Tech News citing two unnamed sources. Tencent has started an internal recruitment process with over 40 open positions.

Tencent has reportedly launched a new business involving extended reality, according to Sina Tech News citing two unnamed sources. Tencent has started an internal recruitment process with over 40 open positions.

Tencent refers to the XR business as the company new business unit embracing the “all-true internet”. The XR business unit aims to create a world-class tech team, covering content creation, research & development and management.

The idea of “all-true internet” was put forward by Huateng Ma, CEO of Tencent, in late 2020. In Tencent’s internal published book Sanguan, Ma describes the “all-true internet” as the integration of online and offline, physically and electronically.

Zhang Zhengyou, Tencent's chief scientist, elaborated the term for the first time on November 3 2021 at an industry conference — the all-true Internet means connecting everything and bridging the real and the virtual, creating a more comprehensive integration of online and offline, and making an increasingly close connection of people, information, things, services and manufacturing.

The concept of the all true internet is very much similar to the now hyped concept of metaverse. Previously, Tencent has already made many moves venturing into the metaverse.

Tencent formed a strategic partnership with metaverse game company Roblox as early as 2019, and published the Roblox game in China in July 2021. According to data provided by Sensor Tower, the game was able to accumulate over 1.7 million downloads in the China App Store in five months after its initial release.

According to a Bloomberg report, Tencent is currently in talks with gaming smartphone maker Black Shark to acquire the company. Upon the completion of the acquisition, Black Shark is said to drop its smartphone business and focus on the research and development of VR equipment. The acquisition, if completed, would mirror ByteDance’s acquisition of Pico or Meta’s acquisition of Oculus. It seems like a pattern for big techs to acquire VR companies to ensure they have the technological infrastructure in order to stay competitive in the metaverse.

Photo by 大 神 on Unsplash