Tencent Holdings has dropped plans to invest in virtual reality (VR) business, as dull economic outlook prompts the Chinese tech giant to cut costs and headcount at its metaverse unit, Reuters news report said.
Tencent, the world’s largest video game publisher, planned to build both virtual reality software and hardware at a reality XR unit in June last year and had hired nearly 300 people.
Tencent had also planned to buy gaming phone maker Black Shark to beef up its hardware push and add 1,000 people to the unit.
However, Tencent walked away from that deal due to Tencent’s shift in strategy as well as mounting regulatory scrutiny and an expected lengthy review process. Tencent had advised most of the unit’s staff to seek other opportunities.
