ByteDance and Meta: A Fight for Dominance in the VR Space?

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is planning to enter the virtual reality (VR) space, per a recent protocol reportOpens a new window . According to the report, the company is getting ready to compete with Meta’s (Facebook’s parent company) Quest 2 VR headset in the U.S. It is assembling a team of Pico employees in the U.S. and primarily focusing on content licensing and marketing its hardware to the consumers in the U.S. Pico is the Chinese VR headset maker that ByteDance acquired in 2021. According to a source privy to the development, ByteDance is also planning to invest â€œtons of moneyâ€ to develop VR-related content.

ByteDance Increases Efforts To Solidify Its Presence

According to the report, a significant portion of the investment is dedicated to hiring talent. Pico currently has over 40 job listings in San Diego, Seattle, and the Bay Area. A few job openings are also for Pico Studios. These positions range from the head of VR Game Strategy to the head of Overseas Content Ecosystem and operations manager. Pico is further planning to fill various technical roles that are related to software and hardware development and research and development. Furthermore, there is a position of head of Consumer SalesOpens a new window available in the U.S, who is expected to be responsible for the marketing and sales of the overall Pico products in the U.S. This indicates that ByteDance intends to establish a solid presence in the U.S.

See more: How the Metaverse Is Changing the Dynamics of Influencer Marketing

A Huge Growth Opportunity for Pico

Pico was one of the startups in China specializing in virtual reality before being purchased by ByteDance. While the company had a team in the U.S., it did not have much opportunity to bring its offerings to Western audiences. It was also focused more on enterprise sales outside China. Last month, the company also announced that it had entered the VR consumer market in Europe with its latest VR headset, the Pico Neo 3 Link.

The #Neo3LinkOpens a new window is here! We have entered the European #VROpens a new window consumer headset market and we are happy to announce the sales start of our 2-in-1 (All-In-One and #PCVROpens a new window ) device. The beta community can provide feedback and actively influence development pic.twitter.com/HjEtQqQi75Opens a new window

â€” PicoXR Europe (@PicoXR_Europe) May 24, 2022Opens a new window

The specs of this headset are similar to those of Meta Quest 2Opens a new window . The headset cost may indicate that Pico wants the equipment to be a more affordable option for consumers who do not want to spend more on the Valve Index or HTC Vive Pro 2.

With ByteDance planning to invest huge amounts of money, Pico has a bigger opportunity to grow its market share in the U.S. and the West. The parent company has also recently started moving a few employees from TikTok to Pico in the U.S. Pico has further increased its attempts to license content for the headsets, including the library titles that are licensed to Meta, since its purchase. Besides hiring employees for the hardware and investing in VR content, Pico is looking to employ a waveguide design scientist and haptic engineers required to build advanced VR and AR hardware Meta is building.

What This Could Mean for Brands and Marketers

Meta is the company that has popularized the concept of Metaverse, a virtual world facilitated by AR and VR headsets, in recent times. The company is also making noticeable strides in this regard. ByteDance has already bought Pico and investing heavily in this space. The company is also testing a social network similar to the Metaverse with its appÂ Party IslandOpens a new window . All these may be pointing toward a tough fight between the two companies in this space.

According to experts, Metaverse, as well as immersive technologies, offer huge opportunities for marketers to create more engaging and immersive content for their audience. ByteDance’s entry into the VR space may offer more such opportunities to brands. Furthermore, Meta’s offerings like Facebook and Instagram, as well as ByteDance’s TikTok, offer businesses and brands massive opportunities to reach out to their audiences. If Metaverse and ByteDance’s virtual worlds successfully attract users, they will provide additional channels for brands to reach their audiences.

What do you think about ByteDance’s investments in the AR and VR industry? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .