ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, is looking to invest “ a lot of money ” in games and applications in virtual reality (VR) reports, the American media Protocol, June 10. ByteDance wishes to recruit about forty people to contribute to the developments of this sector. This follows the acquisition of the Chinese company Pico, which specializes in VR.
ByteDance is recruiting for a VR content creation studio
The firm behind the famous video app is stepping up its diversification efforts. After showing its interest in video games in May 2022, notably by offering mobile games, ByteDance wants to turn to VR. A goal it wants to achieve with the acquisition of Pico. This start-up, the third largest manufacturer of VR headsets, has opened several job offers to expand its activity in the United States.
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In addition to its headset, the Pico Neo 3 Link, the company has created a division to offer games and VR experiences: Pico Studios. Among the positions she is seeking to fill are studio executive, head of VR strategy, head of overseas content ecosystem, and head of operations. Pico is also recruiting engineers for the improvement of its headset and software developers.
ByteDance has also moved some of the teams from the US branch of TiktTok to Pico, including business development manager Sally Wang. Before the takeover of Pico, the company did not even hope to be able to reach the Western market. This new strategy from the parent company puts it in direct competition with Meta.
With VR, the company comes to challenge Meta
The tech giant is a leader in the VR sector. Its helmet, the Quest 2, is the most popular on the market with 15 million units sold. This success is mainly due to its competitive price of 350 euros, the entry level for VR. Meta’s strategy is very aggressive, since Mark Zuckerberg’s company does not seek to make a profit on the sale of helmets.
The Pico Neo 3 Link headphones, now owned by ByteDance, were released last month in Europe for $450. That puts it at a disadvantage against Meta, even though it has a much newer Qualcomm processor than the Quest 2 components. However, consumers new to VR aren’t always interested in hardware specs.
ByteDance is betting on the long term and is positioning itself on several fronts against Meta. On the one hand, the Chinese firm wants to focus on content. Pico’s headset features hit games, also available on Quest 2, like Superhot VR, RedMatter Where arizona sunshine. On the headset side, it has recruited engineers specializing in haptic feedback, linked to the body, to offer a more immersive VR experience. Pico’s high-performance headphones could be a strong argument against Meta if ByteDance manages to popularize it.