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VR and AR
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ByteDance makes another move into metaverse with acquisition of VR start-up Pico Interactive

  • ByteDance said the purchase of Pico will support its long-term investment in VR
  • Pico ranked third in global VR headset sales in the first quarter of this year

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Facebook was one of the first internet software companies to go into VR. Photo: Oculus
Masha Borak
ByteDance, the Beijing-based owner of short video platform TikTok, has made another move towards creating its own metaverse with the acquisition of virtual reality (VR) start-up Pico Interactive.
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The company said that Pico Interactive’s software and hardware, as well as its talent and expertise, will support ByteDance’s “entry to the VR space and long-term investment in this emerging field”.

“We are optimistic about the future of VR and its alignment with our mission,” said a ByteDance spokeswoman.

In April 2021, ByteDance invested around 100 million yuan into Mycodeview, the company behind Reworld, an up-and-coming competitor to metaverse incumbent Roblox.

Pico Interactive will continue to focus on the Chinese consumer market while retaining most of its staff, according to sources familiar with the matter. ByteDance, however, has not yet made concrete plans for its VR products, they said.

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The deal – estimated by the sources to be worth close to 5 billion yuan (US$772 million) – follows forays from internet firms such as Facebook, Apple, and Huawei Technologies Co.
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