Facebook (now known as Meta) has announced a deal with Tencent Holdings to launch a new, lower-priced virtual reality headset in China, marking its return to the Chinese market after a 14-year absence.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Meta Platforms, the company formerly known as Facebook, has embarked on a major strategic move by partnering with Tencent Holdings, a Chinese juggernaut in the global gaming industry. This partnership marks a return for Mark Zuckerberg’s to the Chinese market, a space it exited in 2009 when Facebook was blocked in China. The collaboration is set to kick off in late 2024, focusing on the launch of a new, cost-effective virtual reality headset.
Mark Zuckerberg Meta Selfie (Facebook)
BEIJING, CHINA – JULY 01: Chinese students wave party and national flags at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party at Tiananmen Square on July 1, 2021 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
The new VR headset, designed to be more affordable than Meta’s recent Quest 3 model, aims to make advanced virtual reality technology accessible to a broader segment of consumers. The device will feature cutting-edge lenses and a more powerful graphic processing unit compared to its predecessor, Quest 2.
Under the terms of the agreement, Tencent will exclusively handle the sales of Meta’s VR headsets within China. According to the agreement, Meta will earn a larger share from the sales of the hardware, while Tencent will primarily benefit from content and services revenue, including subscriptions and game sales.
This collaboration comes at a time when global interest in VR technology has been waning, raising questions about the long-term viability of the VR market. Mark Zuckerberg hopes the Chinese market, known for its vast consumer base and technological receptiveness, could potentially reverse this trend.
Breitbart News has previously reported on Facebook employees trashing Mark Zuckerberg and his obsession with VR and his Metaverse:
The Washington Post spoke to a number of current and former employees of Facebook (now known as Meta) , the tech giant which has arguably been hardest-hit by the industry-wide slump across Silicon Valley.
“What was special about Meta was the trust. We drank the Kool-Aid and really felt like it was our company [and] even willingly defended it when everyone said we were evil incarnate,” one employee told the newspaper. “But that’s been shattered, so it feels like a betrayal.”
Employees spoke about the company’s numerous failed products, including its disastrous pivot to a focus on VR technology that the public has been slow to adopt.
As the Post notes, even when they do use VR, they don’t necessarily opt for Facebook products. The tech giant staked much on Horizon Worlds, the virtual world Zuckerberg hoped would be the premier destination in the “metaverse” — but users prefer alternatives, like the popular massively-multiplayer VR game Rec Room.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.