As Meta and other Western tech giants seek to create virtual worlds for consumers in the Metaverse, China is taking a different approach.
The Chinese government is backing technologies it views as strategic and setting rules to control what can happen in cyberspace.
Rather than creating a virtual world for socializing, China’s version of the metaverse aims to harness technology to support the economy.
An example of this is HiAR, an augmented reality company that helps local authorities in China identify mosquito breeding grounds through drone footage.
HiAR was founded in 2012 by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg before the term “metaverse” was popularized.
In 2021, after Facebook rebrands to Meta, a High Level Push Toward the MetaverseChinese startups and tech investors began to follow suit, developing their own metaverse technologies or trying to integrate mixed reality elements into consumer products.
The Chinese government is also taking a keen interest in the metaverse, supporting emerging technologies it deems important and implementing a regulatory framework.
“The metaverse is a vague concept and every [company] Brady Wang, an associate director at tech market research firm Counterpoint, explains it in his own way. told Wired in an interview,
“In China, it is a government-led concept.”
In December 2021, China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection defined the metaverse as consisting of three elements: digital twins, mixed reality, and blockchain.
However, the authorities effectively banned cryptocurrencies in September 2021, helping to decongest the virtual space from digital assets.
Gaming, a key pillar of the metaverse in the West, has come under pressure from the Chinese government amid concerns over youth addiction, with the government willing to support elements that could benefit the economy.
Beijing’s economic strategy document for the 14th Five-Year Plan, 2021 to 2025, includes digital twins as a priority.
Additionally, an action plan published by five ministries, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, aims to grow the virtual reality industry to $51 billion and identify innovative areas such as near-eye display and rendering processing.
Especially, while in the private sector the discussion has shifted to generative AI. The vision of the government has not changed.
“The government is focusing on the long term with policy making,” said Jinshu Chen, cofounder of VR company VER.
“The recent AI hype has not affected how various levels of government continue to follow through on their metaverse policies.”
Similarly, Meta recently reiterated its commitment to the metaverse, contradicting claims that tech giants have turned away from virtual worlds in favor of AI.
“A narrative has developed that we’re somehow moving away from focusing on the Metaverse vision, so I just want to say that’s not accurate,” Zuckerberg said.
The statement comes as the company’s metaverse division lost nearly $4 billion this quarter and $13.7 billion in total last year, with losses expected to grow in 2023.
“Building the Metaverse is a long-term project, but the rationale for it remains the same, and we are committed to it,” Zuckerberg concluded.