The Chinese Internet Giant for a long time planned on its application of “meta-universe”, which sharpens the appetite of the digital giants.
Le Monde with AFP
The Chinese Baidu group launched Monday, December 27 – in China only – one of the first metaver applications (contraction of “meta” and “universe”, metaversus, in English), this virtual parallel world considered the next Big jump in the evolution of the internet.
This concept, which is only its stammerings, must make it possible to free the physical constraints by multiplying the human interactions via the 3D. The opportunities offered by creating a “new virtual world” sharpen the appetite of digital giants. Facebook, which makes its new business project, went so far as to rename its parent company “Meta”.
Baidu, nicknamed the “Google Chinese”, so on Monday his first steps in the metapes at a “metavel” conference in the presence of his boss, Robin Li, facing an audience of avatars. The event coincided with the launch by the group of a methactive application.
Baptized “Xirang” (“Land of Hope”), it allows you to create a digital character (avatar) and interact with other users in a 3D world. The application, only available in China, is accessible on mobile phone, computer or virtual reality helmet.
On Xirang, users are free from their movements in the middle of fake natural decorations or a fictitious city. As in real life, they can go to an exhibition (virtual) or a reproduction of the Shaolin Temple – Kung Fu Mecca – or practice the plunge in a digital pool.
Baidu planned on this project well before the term metapes do not become popular in October after Facebook’s decision to rename his group “Meta”.
Like Baidu, the Chinese digital giants do not hear on the key of the metapes. Bytedance (Tiktok) invested in several companies in the sector, including the manufacturer of virtual reality helmets PICO. Tencent, another digital mastodon, board on his metal platform, with his experience in the video games of which he is one of the major players. As for the Chinese champion of the Alibaba e-commerce, he created a subsidiary to reflect on the different opportunities offered by the metapes.