Metaverse expectation of 8 trillion dollars in China

China's technology giants are preparing to invest in Metaverse projects, the latest favorite of internet technologies.

While US companies, especially Facebook's umbrella company Meta, invested in the Metaverse concept with all their might, Microsoft chose to prepare by strengthening the gaming side with its offer to Activision Blizzard.

Chinese companies, on the other hand, prefer a more cautious approach.

The game industry and social media come to the fore

In a note released last month, Morgan Stanley stated that the total value of the Metaverse market in China could reach $8 trillion. Technology giants such as Tencent, NetEasse, ByteDance, and Alibaba are thought to be pioneers in this field.

This raises the question of what kinds of applications could be part of the Metaverse universe. Analysts think virtual reality, gaming, and social media may be early applications that could fit this criterion. These can include buying virtual items in games or creating digital avatars to attend meetings.

Winston Ma, Managing Partner of CloudTree Ventures, said, "Metaverse is the future of social networks. This technology is of critical importance for Chinese technology giants, whose business plans are maturing in the field of smartphones and mobile internet, on the way to reaching the new generations.

Metaverse moves by Chinese tech giants

Tencent CEO Pony Ma noted at a meeting in November that the Metaverse project will provide growth to industries such as the gaming industry. Tencent, the world's largest gaming company, has a strong portfolio of PC and mobile games.

The company also owns a messaging app called WeChat, with over a billion users. Winston Ma emphasized that the company has "enough technology and know-how building blocks" to explore and develop the Meteverse project.

On the other hand, the ByteDance company made an aggressive entry into the gaming industry last year. The company, which also owns social media applications such as TikTok and Douyin, bought virtual reality glasses manufacturer Pico in August. The current moves of the Beijing-based firm indicate that it will be shaped around the virtual reality social media and gaming industry.

Shopping giant Alibaba, on the other hand, announced that they are preparing to launch augmented reality glasses this year. The term 'augmented reality' is used for virtual images integrated into the real world. This application stands out as one of the areas that can be used in the metaverse.

Another Chinese game giant, NetEase, has focused on developing metaverse applications by establishing a center in the southern region of Hainan.

One of the companies that has taken the most advanced steps in this field is the search engine giant Baidu. It is stated that the virtual universe of the company, which launched the Metaverse application called XiRang last year, can host 100 thousand people at the same time. However, Baidu executives stated that expectations should not be too high when launching the application, and many aspects of the application are not yet completed. Baidu Vice President Ma Jie said it could take up to six years for a full-scale release to emerge.

Charles Mok, Founder of Tech For Good Asia, said, "Similar to the move of Meta, the metaverse concept of Chinese companies can also host virtual reality / augmented reality supported games and social interaction zones in the first place. It will be the first area that Chinese technology giants will follow and include in the metaverse."