Tencent Restructures XR Division, Affected Team Members Receive Two-Month Transition Period

Tencent introduced the partial dissolution of its prolonged actuality (XR) crew, reported by home information portal 36Kr on February 16. According to Tencent, its XR division will likely be restructured because of an overhaul of the corporate’s {hardware} growth plans. The massive Chinese web and know-how firm will present a two-month transitional interval for affected staff, who will likely be given precedence for inner transfers and exterior job suggestions.

In June 2022, Tencent established its XR division in a high-profile method, aiming to put a stable basis for its future metaverse enterprise. Steven Ma, senior vp of Tencent and chief of its gaming division, headed the XR division. Shen Li, head of NExT Studios, a online game developer beneath Tencent, led the division’s daily operations.

Ma stated on the 2022 Tencent Games annual convention that the XR enterprise was established to discover alternatives in software program, content material, techniques, SDK, {hardware}, and different areas. It had hoped to grab new alternatives over the following 4 to 5 years and aimed to launch VR merchandise.

However, after simply 5 months, Shen Li left the corporate in November 2022. Before becoming a member of Tencent in 2013, Shen labored for Ubisoft and Epic Games. He ran the Engine Technology Center at Tencent and took part in Tencent‘s VR Project.

At that point, insiders of Tencent‘s NExT Studios said that Shen’s departure wouldn’t have an effect on the operations of the studio, the XR enterprise, or different associated companies. However, by the start of 2023, information emerged that Tencent had suspended some operations within the XR division.

SEE ALSO: Tencent’s XR Business Stops Operation

According to media outlet Leiphone, an worker who was laid off from Tencent‘s XR division said that Shen’s departure led to the division’s failure. “Shen understood games but didn’t understand or didn’t care about XR. He rarely touched VR devices and only occasionally wore them when listening to reports from employees. In his opinion, VR was just a gaming machine hanging on his face,” stated the supply.

As of January 2023, there have been about 300 staff throughout 9 places of work in Tencent‘s XR division. However, there have been virtually no staff with deep {hardware} growth expertise. Tencent had been unsure about whether or not to develop {hardware}.

Tencent had as soon as supplied 5 billion yuan ($727 million) in an try to accumulate PICO, a VR system maker, when the valuation of PICO was solely about 2 billion yuan ($290 million). Tencent misplaced the bid to ByteDance, who had supplied 9 billion yuan ($1.3 billion). Since then, Tencent had turned to search for different targets. It had tried to accumulate home AR producers Shadow Creator and Black Shark, however failed for varied causes.

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