Chinese tech giant Tencent is reportedly planning to acquire gaming phone brand Black Shark. This step was apparently taken to expand Tencent's ambitions in developing the metaverse.
This news comes from local media 36Kr and several independent sources. Tencent is said to have started the process of talks to buy Black Shark and is close to a deal, as quoted from Bloomberg, Wednesday (12/1/2022).
Black Shark itself is a mobile phone vendor that is still quite young. This gaming phone manufacturer was first founded in 2017.
Currently Black Shark is also supported by another Chinese technology giant, namely Xiaomi. The company created by Lei Jun is the largest shareholder and owns 46.4% of Black Shark's shares.
Once the acquisition process is complete, Black Shark's business will transform. In other words, the Black Shark brand will experience expansion once this acquisition is complete.
If this rumor is true, then Black Shark's business will explore technology and devices related to virtual reality (VR). So the software content for VR will be provided by Tencent while Black Shark will provide the hardware, such as a VR headset.
Developing specialized hardware such as a headset is one of the key steps towards realizing the metaverse. Like what Facebook (now Meta) did when it acquired Oculus in 2014, and ByteDance, which acquired Pico, a Chinese VR headset manufacturer, last year.
Tencent President Martin Lau has also been clamoring to realize the metaverse, which he calls a great opportunity. But he admits this concept will probably take a while to be brought into reality.
The choice of the Black Shark by Tencent is also not something surprising. Last year, Tencent collaborated with Black Shark to develop a gaming phone that could optimize the game Peacekeeper Elite.
