Following Facebook and Nike, Chinese Big Tech Also Enters the Metaverse

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Chinese big tech companies such as Alibaba and Baidu are consecutively applying for trademark registrations related to the metaverse. The metaverse is a compound word of 'meta,' meaning virtual, and 'universe,' meaning world, referring to a three-dimensional virtual world where the virtual and real worlds interact.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 5th, citing Chinese corporate information company Qichacha, that "game company NetEase and its subsidiaries applied for several metaverse-related trademarks at the end of last month."

The trademarks applied for by NetEase Group include combinations of the company name and 'metaverse,' such as 'NetEase Metaverse,' 'Push Metaverse,' and 'LeiHuo Metaverse.' These trademarks cover various fields including design research, communication services, education, and entertainment.

China's largest search engine company Baidu applied to register the trademark 'MetaApp' in the fields of science and design research. SCMP explained, "Baidu's trademark application was made on the 29th of last month, the day after Facebook announced it would change its company name to 'Meta.'"

Tencent previously filed about 100 metaverse-related trademark applications in September. Alibaba also applied for multiple metaverse-related trademark registrations in the same month. SCMP, citing sources, reported, "Tencent is focusing on metaverse-like development by assembling an international team for a new studio to develop next-generation internet games."

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, invested 100 million yuan (approximately 18.5 billion KRW) in MyCodeView, the parent company of Chinese metaverse platform LiWorld, which competes with the global metaverse platform Roblox, in April. In August, ByteDance acquired Chinese virtual reality (VR) headset startup PICO.

Despite concerns from authorities, Chinese big tech is focusing on the metaverse. The state-run think tank China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) pointed out in a report published on the 30th of last month that "although the metaverse is still in its early development stage, considering its technical characteristics and development patterns, it carries potential national security risks ranging from cybersecurity threats to technological hegemony issues."

SCMP interpreted, "Although the metaverse is still in its early stages, the recent moves by Chinese big tech companies to ride the metaverse boom show that the stakes for this newly emerging internet business model will be high."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.