Although the metaverse market is still nascent, it already weighed nearly 500 billion dollars in 2020 and should reach 800 billion by 2024. In this sector, the Chinese Baidu is in competition with other giants, like Tencent and Facebook.
The metaverse continues to whet the appetite of digital giants. And if Facebook is by far the company that occupies the most media space in this sector, which is still in its infancy, other players are launching into the battle. This is the case of the Chinese group Baidu, which on Monday presented Xi Rang (“Land of Hope”), a parallel virtual universe which constitutes one of the very first global applications of metaverse. It is the first such platform in China.
This new virtual world was unveiled to the general public by Baidu, considered the “Chinese Google”, on the occasion of its “Create 2021” conference, which was also organized within this metaverse itself. The boss of the Chinese giant, Robin Li, thus appeared in a virtual stadium in front of stands filled with avatars.
Beyond the role of virtual platform for the conferences of Robin Li, the metaverse Xi Rang allows its users to interact with other people evolving in this world in 3D. In virtual settings that can be freely explored, users can visit the Shaolin temple, go to an exhibition or even take a dip in the swimming pool. Gaming, entertainment, culture, education, shopping and advertising are all possible uses of this parallel universe.
Six more years of minimum development
To access this metaverse, users must be equipped with a smartphone, computer or virtual reality headset. However, despite the technological advances of recent years, the project remains immense to offer a successful and quality virtual experience to users. Numerous technical obstacles thus remain to be overcome in order to offer smooth and ergonomic navigation in this parallel world, which is destined to become a veritable digital backbone of the physical world. In this sense, Baidu clarified that it would take at least six more years for its platform to be fully operational.
If the metaverse market is still nascent, it already weighed nearly $ 500 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $ 800 billion by 2024, according to Bloomberg. Closely linked to the metaverse, the consumer virtual reality market should largely ride on the enthusiasm generated by this novelty, which promises to erase the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds. In this context, the consumer virtual reality market is expected to soar to $ 16 billion in 2026, against $ 6.4 billion in 2021, according to Omdia. Also in 2026, 70 million virtual reality headsets are expected to be used by consumers around the world, up from 26 million at the end of the current year.
Duel already engaged between American and Chinese tech giants
Faced with the potential of the sector, other Chinese giants are positioning themselves, such as Tencent, which intends to rely heavily on its expertise in video games to build its metaverse. Alibaba is also beginning to place its pawns, with the registration of several brands with very evocative names, such as “Ali Metaverse”, “Taobao Metaverse” and “DingDing Metaverse”.
In the West, Facebook seems to be in the lead for now, with a corporate strategy focused on the metaverse, as evidenced by its name change to Meta to reflect this shift. Determined to be at the forefront of this flourishing market, the Menlo Park firm has announced the creation of 10,000 jobs in Europe over the next five years and the allocation of $ 10 billion for the year alone. 2021 in order to build this metaverse.
Mark Zuckerberg has set himself the goal of welcoming a billion people into the metaverse at the end of the current decade, a horizon at which this parallel world, considered the “future of the internet”, could become profitable, according to the boss from the social media giant. Once again, the American and Asian behemoths seem well on their way to winning the day. Barring a brilliant blow from a European company, the Old Continent may still shine in terms of regulation, in the absence of innovation.