China Industry Ministry Plans To Set up Guidelines for Metaverse

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has announced plans to create a team to establish guidelines for the metaverse industry.

This initiative aligns with Beijing’s goal to set the standard for innovative technologies globally. The MIIT’s proposed draft recognizes the metaverse as one of the nine emerging technology sectors crucial for China to shape industry standards. Despite gaining popularity in 2021, the metaverse remains a topic of debate with no universally accepted definition.

China’s MIIT acknowledges this challenge and highlights the need for standardization and guidance to ensure that the metaverse industry develops healthily and orderly. Additionally, it emphasizes the susceptibility of the sector to market speculation due to its ambiguous definitions.

The MIIT views the metaverse as a pioneering combination of advanced technologies that will stimulate inventive business models, create fresh opportunities, and enhance the growth of the digital economy.

China’s efforts to take the lead in metaverse standardization indicate its vision to influence the future of technology globally. In June, the China Mobile Metaverse Industry Alliance comprised 24 companies, such as Huawei, HTC, Xiaomi, iFlytek, Mango TV, and Unity China. The alliance, spearheaded by one of China’s largest telecoms, aims to enhance the metaverse ecosystem and the digital economy.

Last year, Huawei investigated the present and future possibilities in the metaverse. The Chinese tech company cited Citibank’s projections, which propose that the metaverse market could have a value ranging from $8 trillion to $13 trillion by 2030, with around five billion users engaging in the metaverse.

Huawei reported that video games played on VR headsets are the main way people currently interact with the metaverse. However, predictions suggest that the metaverse is progressing towards becoming the next version of the internet, known as Web3. This open metaverse is driven by the community and is owned by them. It is also interoperable and places a high priority on user privacy.