On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta Platforms partnered with Tencent Holdings to actively sell a new, affordable virtual reality (VR) gear in China, aiming to reenter a market where Facebook and Instagram are still restrict.
Meta strikes deal with Tencent: Tencent will become the only supplier of Meta’s headsets in China as a result of the preliminary agreement, according to the Journal, which cited sources. The Chinese video game developer plans to begin selling the headgear in late 2024.
The study did not mention the possible cost of the headset.
In response to violent protests in the western province of Xinjiang, which the government claimed were sparked by the social media platforms, the Chinese government stopped Twitter and Facebook in the middle of 2009.
With the VR agreement, Meta will have the opportunity to reenter the Chinese market and take on Bytedance, the company that owns TikTok and produces the VR headset Pico.
Right now in the emerging VR market, Meta’s Quest is the best-selling title.
Earlier this year, the business launched the Quest 3, a next-generation mixed reality headset.
According to the WSJ, Meta intends to employ less expensive lenses in the headset for China than those used in the Quest 3.
Other markets will also sell this version.
According to the source, Tencent would receive a larger portion of content and service revenue from Meta, while Meta would receive a larger portion from device sales. The Chinese company would also be the publisher of games and other apps available on the less expensive headset.
Reuters contacted Meta and Tencent for comment, but neither company responded right away.
