China’s Shandong province has announced its ambitious plan to become a global leader in the metaverse industry by 2025. The metaverse is a term that refers to a virtual reality environment where people can interact with each other and digital content across different platforms and devices.
The metaverse, a term coined by science fiction author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, is a virtual reality where people can interact with each other and digital content in immersive and seamless ways. The concept has gained popularity in recent years, especially after the pandemic accelerated the adoption of online platforms and services.
According to a report by the Shandong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the province aims to build a metaverse market worth 130 billion yuan ($20.5 billion) by 2025, accounting for 10% of the global market share. The report also outlines the key areas of development, such as metaverse infrastructure, content creation, platform operation, and application scenarios.
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The province plans to support the growth of local metaverse enterprises, attract foreign investment and talent, and foster cross-industry collaboration and innovation. Some of the potential applications of the metaverse include education, entertainment, tourism, culture, sports, health care, and e-commerce.
Many tech giants, such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Nvidia, have announced their ambitions to build or support the metaverse, envisioning a future where people can work, play, socialize, and create in virtual worlds. However, they are not the only ones eyeing this emerging market. China, the world’s second-largest economy and home to more than 900 million internet users, has also expressed its interest and intention to develop its own version of the metaverse.
The report also emphasizes the need to ensure the security, privacy, and ethics of the metaverse industry, as well as to promote its positive social impact. The metaverse is widely seen as the next frontier of the digital economy, with tech giants such as Facebook, Microsoft, Tencent, and Alibaba investing heavily in its development. According to a report by Strategy Analytics, the global metaverse market is expected to reach $280 billion by 2025 and $1.5 trillion by 2030.
In August 2021, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a guideline on promoting the development of the virtual reality industry, which included a section on building a “high-quality immersive virtual world” that integrates with the physical world. The guideline also outlined some key areas of focus, such as improving the infrastructure and standards for VR devices and platforms, fostering innovation and collaboration among VR enterprises and research institutions, and cultivating VR talents and applications in various sectors.
According to a report by iResearch, a Chinese market research firm, China’s VR market size reached 54.45 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) in 2020, up 46.7% year-on-year. The report predicted that the market would grow to 216.2 billion yuan ($33.4 billion) by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 31.9%. The report also identified some of the leading players in China’s VR industry, such as Tencent, Alibaba, Huawei, Baidu, ByteDance, Xiaomi, Netease, and iQiyi.
These companies have been investing heavily in VR hardware, software, content, and services, aiming to capture a slice of the lucrative metaverse market. For example, Tencent, China’s largest social media and gaming company, has launched its own VR headset called Tencent Mini VR and a VR social platform called Tencent VR+. Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company, has developed a VR shopping platform called Buy+ and a VR content creation platform called Youku VR.
+Huawei, China’s largest telecom equipment maker, has released its own VR glasses and a VR cloud service called Huawei Cloud VR. Baidu, China’s largest search engine company, has created a VR content platform called Baidu VR and a VR operating system called DuerOS VR. ByteDance, the owner of popular short-video app TikTok, has acquired Pico Interactive, a Chinese VR headset maker. Xiaomi, one of China’s leading smartphone makers, has launched its own VR headset called Mi VR and a VR content platform called Mi VR Home. Netease, one of China’s leading online gaming companies