The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Meta Platforms has reached an agreement with Tencent Holdings to offer a new, low-cost virtual reality (VR) headset in China, as it attempts to re-enter a market where Facebook and Instagram are still forbidden.
According to the Journal, the preliminary agreement will make Tencent the only vendor of Meta’s headsets in China, and the Chinese video game producer will begin selling the headgear in late 2024.
The headset’s possible pricing was not mentioned in the story.
Beijing shut down Facebook and Twitter in mid-2009, following deadly riots in the western province of Xinjiang that authorities allege were aided by the social networking sites.
The VR purchase allows Meta to re-enter the Chinese market and compete with TikTok-owned Bytedance, which manufactures the Pico VR headset.
Meta’s Quest is now the best-selling title in the fledgling VR market. Earlier this year, the business launched the Quest 3 next-generation mixed reality headset.
According to the WSJ, Meta intends to employ lenses in the headset that are less expensive than those in the Quest 3. This variant will also be available in other markets.
According to the article, Meta would receive a larger percentage of gadget sales, while Tencent would take a larger share of content and service revenue, with the cheaper headset also including games and other apps from the Chinese giant.
Tencent and Meta did not respond immediately to Reuters’ requests for comment.
