China's tech juggernauts form metaverse research institute
(2022/08/23)
- Reference: 1661271008
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/08/23/china_metaverse_meta_facebook/
- Source link:
COMMENT While Meta has been hemorrhaging billions trying to bring CEO Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse to life with little to show for it, China has decided it too will take a crack at the virtual-reality concept.
This week [1]reports emerged in China's state-owned Shanghai Securities Journal that some of the nation's most powerful tech companies have joined forces to form the "Joint Research Institute of Metaverse and Virtual-Real Interaction" in Shanghai.
Participating companies include Tencent, which [2]owns a slice of most large game-makers in China ; Huawei, the comms giant which is famously a favorite target of US sanctions; and Epic Games, of which Tencent owns 40 percent.
[3]
Also in the mix is China Mobile's Migu as well as top universities including Fudan, Peking, Renmin, Zhejiang, and Nanjing, which have been named the "the research co-construction units for the institute," Beijing news outlet Pandaily [4]reported .
[5]
[6]
Professor Zhao Xing, from the Big Data Research Institute of Fudan University and the National Intelligent Evaluation and Governance Experimental Base, has been hired as dean.
According to Shanghai Securities Journal, Zhao said that "Shanghai has valuable experience in digital transformation and construction, as well as strong support from metaverse talents, technology, industry, urban environment, and consumption capacity, which constitute the core reasons for the establishment of the Institute in Shanghai."
[7]
China is now on its 14th "Five-Year Plan for Digital Economy Development" as of January, which has resulted in "new digital formats" being "laid out all over the country," Pandaily said, with the metaverse "one of the most important emerging growth points." Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Xiamen, and more are all said to have launched metaverse development policies of their own.
Shanghai is at at the forefront of this movement, with metaverse-related industries in the city predicted to reach ¥350 billion ($51 billion), driving the software and information services industry to exceed ¥1.5 trillion and the electronic manufacturing industry to more than ¥550 billion. The Joint Research Institute of Metaverse and Virtual-Real Interaction is also calling Shanghai home.
[8]Big Tech is building the metaverse of its own dreams. You don't want to go there
[9]That was fast: MetaGuard emerges as an 'incognito mode' for the metaverse
[10]Surprise! The metaverse is going to suck for privacy
[11]Meta pours cash into servers and AI as ad revenue falls
It looks like Meta has its work cut out. Zuckerberg announced Facebook's pivot to metaverse-related activities in October 2021 and described his vision thus:
In this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents' living room to catch up. This will open up more opportunity no matter where you live. You'll be able to spend more time on what matters to you, cut down time in traffic, and reduce your carbon footprint.
Think about how many physical things you have today that could just be holograms in the future. Your TV, your perfect work setup with multiple monitors, your board games and more — instead of physical things assembled in factories, they'll be holograms designed by creators around the world.
Almost a year later, despite the advent of Nvidia's [12]Omniverse for [13]digital twins and other work in the space, Meta is no closer to stemming the flow of money into the project. [14]Reality Labs , the division responsible to breathing life into the metaverse, recorded a $10.2bn loss, after spending $12.5 billion to earn $2.3 billion in revenue, in fy2021.
While it's not "nail in the coffin" territory for the social network, which made $39.37 billion in net income last year from $117.9 billion in revenues, investors are watching the Reality Labs numbers with concern, and Meta appears to be nowhere near a working metaverse that people want to spend any time in.
Domestic social media companies in China arguably have some advantages over their western counterparts. For example, heavily censored yet feature-rich Weibo has more users than Twitter and some [15]research [PDF] has found that the former's userbase has a higher level of social reciprocity, meaning more of a user's followers will actually respond when they talk.
[16]
The foundation of this research institute could mean that Chinese citizens will be surfing the metaverse sooner than the rest of us. Although we're not sure which hellscape we're more afraid of – one that bows to the Chinese Communist Party or one born from the worst excesses of late capitalism.
We have asked Huawei for comment. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://news.cnstock.com/news,bwkx-202208-4943042.htm
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tencent#Foreign_investments
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pandaily.com/huawei-tencent-and-others-build-joint-metaverse-research-institute/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/22/metaverse_opinion_vr/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/18/metaguard_promises_protection_from_metaverse/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/29/metaverse_privacy_study/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/meta_pours_cash_into_servers/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/23/nvidia_omniverse_gtc/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/30/nvidia_siemens_omniverse/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/10/uber_meta_employment_stocks/
[15] https://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~ravenben/publications/pdf/weibo-fcs16.pdf
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
This week [1]reports emerged in China's state-owned Shanghai Securities Journal that some of the nation's most powerful tech companies have joined forces to form the "Joint Research Institute of Metaverse and Virtual-Real Interaction" in Shanghai.
Participating companies include Tencent, which [2]owns a slice of most large game-makers in China ; Huawei, the comms giant which is famously a favorite target of US sanctions; and Epic Games, of which Tencent owns 40 percent.
[3]
Also in the mix is China Mobile's Migu as well as top universities including Fudan, Peking, Renmin, Zhejiang, and Nanjing, which have been named the "the research co-construction units for the institute," Beijing news outlet Pandaily [4]reported .
[5]
[6]
Professor Zhao Xing, from the Big Data Research Institute of Fudan University and the National Intelligent Evaluation and Governance Experimental Base, has been hired as dean.
According to Shanghai Securities Journal, Zhao said that "Shanghai has valuable experience in digital transformation and construction, as well as strong support from metaverse talents, technology, industry, urban environment, and consumption capacity, which constitute the core reasons for the establishment of the Institute in Shanghai."
[7]
China is now on its 14th "Five-Year Plan for Digital Economy Development" as of January, which has resulted in "new digital formats" being "laid out all over the country," Pandaily said, with the metaverse "one of the most important emerging growth points." Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Xiamen, and more are all said to have launched metaverse development policies of their own.
Shanghai is at at the forefront of this movement, with metaverse-related industries in the city predicted to reach ¥350 billion ($51 billion), driving the software and information services industry to exceed ¥1.5 trillion and the electronic manufacturing industry to more than ¥550 billion. The Joint Research Institute of Metaverse and Virtual-Real Interaction is also calling Shanghai home.
[8]Big Tech is building the metaverse of its own dreams. You don't want to go there
[9]That was fast: MetaGuard emerges as an 'incognito mode' for the metaverse
[10]Surprise! The metaverse is going to suck for privacy
[11]Meta pours cash into servers and AI as ad revenue falls
It looks like Meta has its work cut out. Zuckerberg announced Facebook's pivot to metaverse-related activities in October 2021 and described his vision thus:
In this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents' living room to catch up. This will open up more opportunity no matter where you live. You'll be able to spend more time on what matters to you, cut down time in traffic, and reduce your carbon footprint.
Think about how many physical things you have today that could just be holograms in the future. Your TV, your perfect work setup with multiple monitors, your board games and more — instead of physical things assembled in factories, they'll be holograms designed by creators around the world.
Almost a year later, despite the advent of Nvidia's [12]Omniverse for [13]digital twins and other work in the space, Meta is no closer to stemming the flow of money into the project. [14]Reality Labs , the division responsible to breathing life into the metaverse, recorded a $10.2bn loss, after spending $12.5 billion to earn $2.3 billion in revenue, in fy2021.
While it's not "nail in the coffin" territory for the social network, which made $39.37 billion in net income last year from $117.9 billion in revenues, investors are watching the Reality Labs numbers with concern, and Meta appears to be nowhere near a working metaverse that people want to spend any time in.
Domestic social media companies in China arguably have some advantages over their western counterparts. For example, heavily censored yet feature-rich Weibo has more users than Twitter and some [15]research [PDF] has found that the former's userbase has a higher level of social reciprocity, meaning more of a user's followers will actually respond when they talk.
[16]
The foundation of this research institute could mean that Chinese citizens will be surfing the metaverse sooner than the rest of us. Although we're not sure which hellscape we're more afraid of – one that bows to the Chinese Communist Party or one born from the worst excesses of late capitalism.
We have asked Huawei for comment. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://news.cnstock.com/news,bwkx-202208-4943042.htm
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tencent#Foreign_investments
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pandaily.com/huawei-tencent-and-others-build-joint-metaverse-research-institute/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/22/metaverse_opinion_vr/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/18/metaguard_promises_protection_from_metaverse/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/29/metaverse_privacy_study/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/meta_pours_cash_into_servers/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/23/nvidia_omniverse_gtc/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/30/nvidia_siemens_omniverse/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/10/uber_meta_employment_stocks/
[15] https://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~ravenben/publications/pdf/weibo-fcs16.pdf
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YwVN@FzD-6dkP@N84DfuTQAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
China's ideal realized
sarusa
A place where every single thing you see is created or at least pre-vetted by the totalitarian state's algorithms and everything you say or do is obsessively recorded forever.
Of course that applies to Facebook's garbage as well, but they're only interested in more venal matters.
As Gibson said
The old timers realized it had been there all along.
The Metaverse is two things in people heads, one boils down simply a different way to visualize and manipulate data, the other the many splendored idea of the worlds and information those tools allow you to experience.
Facebook keeps failing because every version of the idea they can conceive is limited by the dystopia they wish to perpetuate. Nvidia's idea is more interesting and more useful, but wont inherently attract casual users. That's not it's job, but it means at least the data scientists get it at least. It is a thing that does not just a thing that merely is. Game companies will need to go a different direction too, creating curated experiences that engage and entertain, much narrower in focus.
But the truth is the metaverse has its roots far back into people visualizing telco switch logs and GIS data, of dialup era mail servers and bbs networks, or flows of capitol through the financial system. If we can succeed in building a more universal tool for visualizing and navigating that, it may get attached to the term Metaverse. Or AR, or whatever. The finish line isn't buzzword compliance, it's being able to do things that are worth doing in a new way that isn't just change for changes sake. Whatever realm someone is looking at they need an experience that lets them get stuff done without dragging the UI like an anchor.
Clearly the game industry is already there within their niche, but we haven't seen a universal UI for immersive environments that is more efficient then what we have now in the non-immersive world. I doubt that is going to come out of Facebook, or China. They are more focused on creating a hellscape that steers and watches your every move. They put all their chips on that very specific back end. I'd say the best play is to cut both of them off from whatever standards get build around this new industry. The want other people to build all the parts that matter for them, then allow them to force the whole thing into their framework, under their terms, and under their control.
Let's not do that shall we? Facebook is clearly having trouble buying talent, at any price right now. Next they will try to scoop up whatever new players rise on the game board via acquisition. China will steal the front runners works and try to go it alone with local talent. We should turn that around and poach their talent, leaving them with brain drain and incompatible products. Then if we can get our act together a bit we can buy ourselves a chance to reset the net back to a version we haven't seen in many a year, more open, more free, and hopefully this time well out of the grasping hands that wrecked the first open internet, damning it to a death by 1000 cuts.