Tencent enters the metaverse whilst Meta ups their game

GB Market Commentary 28/06/2022

by Marcus Sotiriou

Whilst Bitcoin consolidates around $21,000, metaverse adoption is growing amongst many institutions. Tencent, a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate, announced the creation of its own metaverse-driven division. encompassing all metaverse-driven efforts, including hardware and software developments. The company reportedly aims to employ over 300 in this unit, which will encompass the development of software and hardware products for the metaverse. This means that Tencent may be competing with companies such as Meta and Microsoft with efforts to create tools and infrastructure for the metaverse like AR and XI hardware.

I think this move from Tencent towards the metaverse is significant as they are one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue, as they turned over $86 billion in 2021. In addition, this move coincides with Tencent executing cost-cutting measures and slowing down hiring efforts due to the macroeconomic environment - the founder of Tencent is allegedly passionate about integrating the metaverse into their company.

Meta is stepping up their game with their metaverse venture, as they have announced the launch of a new digital wallet that will support the economy of users in the upcoming iteration of Meta’s metaverse. This move aims to solve the problem of transaction and value interactions in the metaverse. This wallet, called Meta Pay, will still support payments as the incumbent Facebook Pay handles today, but there will be a focus on digital identity and proof of ownership.

Mark Zuckerberg said, “in the future, there will be all sorts of digital items you might want to create or buy — digital clothing, art, videos, music, experiences, virtual events, and more. Proof of ownership will be important, especially if you want to take some of these items with you across different services.”

I think this is a clear recognition of how the fourth industrial revolution, being referred to as the marriage of physical assets and advanced digital technologies by Deloitte, will impact everyone in some way, as the digital world economy becomes adopted on a mass scale.