The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released a 12-page plan that showcases how the country plans to build the VR sector and integrate it with industrial applications like manufacturing.
According to Yicai, The 12-page document is China’s first national-level development plan for the VR sector. China’s MIIT previously issued a set of “guiding opinions” on building the virtual reality industry in 2018, but – let’s face it – that was before the metaverse exploded, Facebook rebranded to Meta and everyone started talking about the ‘next iteration of the internet’.
And while China’s new 12-page document narrowly avoids using the term “metaverse,” it does touch on the lengths that many technologies currently building the metaverse are relying on. From head-mounted near-eye displays to gesture-tracking technology.
China’s “backstone enterprises”
China aims to cultivate 100 innovative and influential “backstone enterprises” in the VR space as well as develop 10 pilot cities and industrial parks that’ll be used to demonstrate the industrial integration of VR and AR technologies in fields such as education, mining, natural disaster management and media.
The MIIT also calls for directing the country’s national-level funds towards the VR sector to encourage the development of “little giant” companies in VR.
According to China’s development plan, the government is aiming to accumulate 350 billion yuan ($48 billion) in value in four years, which is a six-fold increase compared to last year’s level.
Some of the biggest Chinese companies are already investing huge amounts in the metaverse one of the lucky recipients of such investment is Unity, the US-based game tools developer whose products are used to develop AR, VR, and the metaverse. They penned a deal in August to form a Chinese joint venture called Unity China which is now valued at $1 billion.
And China is just one of the front-running countries taking big steps towards perfecting the metaverse race. See also recent moves from the likes of UAE and South Korea. For China, the metaverse represents an essential virtual space that if perfected, will be critical to maintaining its technological strengths and global standing.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
