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TikTok owner ByteDance acquires VR headset maker Pico
ByteDance Ltd., the owner of short video sharing apps TikTok and Douyin, confirmed Sunday that it acquired the virtual reality headset maker Pico Interactive Inc.
“Pico’s comprehensive suite of software and hardware technologies, as well as the talent and deep expertise of the team, will support both our entry into the VR space and long-term investment in this emerging field,” a ByteDance representative said in a statement to Caixin Global.
The Beijing-headquartered company did not disclose the details of the deal. The representative added that the company intends to focus on developing consumer-facing VR devices for the Chinese market after the acquisition.
Pico was founded in 2015 by Henry Zhou and is now the third-largest virtual reality headset maker globally as of the first quarter of 2021, followed by Facebook Inc.’s Oculus and Chinese company DPVR, according to IDC.
Although Pico does not ship as many headsets as Oculus globally, Facebook does not sell its headsets in the Chinese market.
With this acquisition, ByteDance will be following social media giant Facebook into the VR space through its own purchase of headset maker Oculus in 2014. Facebook has focused its efforts on reducing the costs of headsets to make them more accessible to consumers and developing more use cases for VR such as remote working apps like “Horizon Workrooms.”
Other companies are also jumping into the VR market, including Apple Inc., which acquired NextVR Inc. and plans to launch its own headset and the next generation of the PlayStation VR headset is coming in 2022.
Pico currently sells a standalone VR device, the Pico Neo 3, as a consumer-focused product in China with games. However, in North America and Europe, it is only sold as an enterprise “Pro” device. The device itself has specifications very close to the Oculus Quest 2 – also a standalone headset – and it has some of the same games where it’s sold in China.
This represents the second major acquisition for ByteDance after picking up a mobile gaming studio called Moonton for $4 billion in March.
Image: Pico Interactive
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