Tencent Might Follow Facebook Into This Unloved Market
CEO Pony Ma recently stated that his company would "seriously consider" adding VR features to its flagship mobile app WeChat. Ma made the statement during his keynote speech at the 2018 Wuzhen International Internet Conference, and predicted that companies would "exhibit more portable VR devices" at next year's conference. ...
That "video game winter" forced Tencent to restructure its businesses in October to emphasize the growth of its non-gaming businesses -- including WeChat, its digital content platforms, and its cloud and AI services. Ma's idea of expanding WeChat, the top mobile messaging app in China with 1.06 billion monthly active users (MAUs), into a VR platform complements that strategic shift.
...That's why Facebook pivoted away from the high-end Oculus headsets, which need to be tethered to high-end PCs, toward cheaper stand-alone devices like the $200 Oculus Go. SuperData predicts that the Go will fare better with 1.8 million shipments, but that represents just 0.08% of Facebook's 2.28 billion monthly active users (MAUs) worldwide.
Tencent is also expanding WeChat's ecosystem into adjacent markets. It recently introduced with a new smart vehicle system that uses WeChat as a control interface, and plans to launch new "virtual assistant" features for business users. Tencent also recently collaborated with Tonot to launch smartglasses for Weishi, its short video rival to ByteDance's TikTok. In that context, it would be logical for Tencent to collaborate with headset makers to launch a VR platform comparable to Facebook Spaces for WeChat users.
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