Metaverse Hasn't Developed Rapidly In China, Developers Wait For Government Regulations

JAKARTA – How will the Chinese metaverse develop? Look to the letter "C", which can be Clean, censored, compliant and crypto-free is the view of the experts.

The description shows the long shadow cast by the Chinese authorities which have hinted that they will have heavy regulatory agencies on how it will develop. A shadow that some metaverse proponents in China fear because it will stunt its growth.

From Microsoft's $69 billion plan to buy Activision (ATVI.O) to Facebook changing its name to Meta Platforms Inc, much of the tech world has jumped on board to build what many expect to be the next generation of the internet: an immersive virtual world that replicates many facets of the internet. real life.

Experts say China's metaverse efforts lag behind countries like the United States and South Korea, citing less investment by domestic tech giants. Industry-leading products such as the Oculus Meta virtual reality (VR) headset have been banned in China. Then the slow development of attractive domestically made VR headsets means that China has yet to see the VR platform or the metaverse will gain significant popularity.

But interest in the metaverse in China is already starting to soar. In the past year, more than 1,000 companies including heavyweights such as Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings Ltd have applied for about 10,000 trademarks related to the metaverse, according to business tracking firm Tianyancha.

Baidu, Reuters reported, broke ground last December with the launch of “XiRang”, described as China's first metaverse platform although it has been heavily criticized for not offering a high-level immersive experience. But Baidu said the application is in progress.

Other start-ups are also seeing more investment. In the three months to the end of November, more than 10 billion yuan was invested in metaverse-related ventures, far more than the 2.1 billion yuan of investment attracted by China's VR and related industries for all of 2020, according to Sino Global, a venture capital firm. China-focused crypto.

"Investors and venture capital managers who haven't spoken to me in years suddenly sent messages - asking if I wanted to go eat and talk. They all wanted to talk about the metaverse," said Beijing-based Pan Bohang, who plans to launch the platform. VR social game.

Experts say China's metaverse growth period allows Beijing plenty of room to co-opt its development, especially as the current metaverse buzz coincides with unprecedented regulatory crackdowns on technology and other industries.

"Traditional internet businesses in China develop first and then are regulated. Industries such as the metaverse will be regulated as they are built," said Du Zhengping, head of the China Mobile Communications Association's metaverse industry committee that was formed in October.

“But China's authoritarian approach runs counter to how the metaverse is developing in other parts of the world, where users are attracted to new ways to express themselves, and that will stunt growth,” said Eloi Gerard, a VR entrepreneur who worked in China for 10 years. before recently moving to Los Angeles.

"Metaverse has become a place where you have religious groups, LGBT movements, congregating around the world and using cyberspace to share ideas, this is what people on VRChat are doing today... it's very progressive and liberal," he said, referring to on the popular VR platform based in San Francisco.

"The idea of the metaverse is that one moves between virtual worlds ... this goes against the idea of one party, one voice, one vision," Gerard adds.

Experts also note that games - considered a gateway technology to the metaverse - are now strictly regulated in China.

Games must be government-approved and while fighting games are permitted, strong violent content such as depictions of blood and corpses has been banned, as has anything that could be construed as obscene or pornographic. As part of a recent regulatory crackdown, authorities in China are also trying to control underage play as well as excessive praise of celebrities and money.

Gaming giants such as Tencent and NetEase Inc, were quick to publicly state that they would abide by any rules when developing their metaverse offerings in China.

The government's long arms are also likely to be felt in other ways. An influential app, Xuexi Qiangguo, which is mandatory reading for many Communist Party cadres, published an article in November saying that the metaverse should be used to improve the quality of compulsory ideological education classes for schoolchildren.

At a January meeting of Beijing's municipal political advisory body to discuss metaverse developments, proposals included a registration system for metaverse communities aimed at preventing them from influencing wider public opinion and causing economic or financial shocks.