Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, June 15 (TMTPOST) — Meta, also known as Facebook, is going to launch pilot metaverse initiatives in Hong Kong to bring virtual world experiences to residents.

Meta said on Tuesday that it would work with local partners, including chain coffee brands, schools and art institutions, to host virtual reality (VR) exhibitions and augmented reality (AR) application seminars in schools for students and educators. Meta hopes to explore the use of metaverse in daily lives through these initiatives. Meta will also work with local creators in the city of 7.4 million and share their non-fungible token (NFT) projects on Instagram.

Meta owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Meta will also set up a number of metaverse academies in France, according to an announcement made earlier this week. The academies will be set up in several major French cities, including Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Nice. Every year, each of these metaverse academies will train 20 students.

It was reported earlier on January 6 that Meta had recently dismissed a research and development team with over 300 people focusing on AR and VR operating system XROS. The abolishment of the department signifies Meta’s failed attempt in creating its own metaverse operating system.

Meta is planning to impose a commission on the sales and exchange of digital assets on its VR social media platform Horizon Worlds. The commission rate is as high as 47.5%. The commission policy is an important part of Meta’s metaverse project. A spokesperson from Meta had confirmed to the media that the company is planning to take a 47.5% cut from each transaction on its platform, 30% of which is a hardware platform fee charged by Meta Quest Store and 17.5% is platform fee charged by Horizon Worlds.