As part of larger metaverse play, Zain Group will distribute HTC Vive’s virtual reality (VR) system to the Middle East region. Zain will sell the VR devices to its customers via online and in-person retail options.
In the Viveport platform customers can explore and create VR experiences.
In addition, the operator will promote the Vive ecosystem and Viveport content platform throughout Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Jordan through its e-sports division and operator divisions. Customers may explore and create virtual reality experiences on the Viveport content platform, which is an app store.
The transaction represents a grab for both firms at the developing metaverse idea, which defines a virtual environment that employs a variety of technologies to create an immersive world based on spatial computing.
“The Partnership with HTC will herald Zain’s entry into the Metaverse — which confirms our role as the pioneers in delivering sophisticated digital experiences for our clients region wide,” Malek Hammoud, chief investment and digital officer at Zain Group, said in a press statement.
HTC Vive is already advertising the Vive Sync
HTC Vive is already promoting the Vive Sync, which it describes as a “all-in-one meeting and collaboration solution for VR,” with an emphasis on conducting face-to-face meetings while working remotely.
Zain and HTC Vive aren’t the only tech firms hoping to grab a leg up on the metaverse. For example, Microsoft recently revealed intentions to buy game publisher Activision Blizzard for almost $70 billion, the biggest gaming deal ever. If authorized, the transaction will significantly improve the cloud company’s position in the competitive gaming business, as well as its position in the metaverse market.
The industry is taking note of the link between gaming and the metaverse, which is also evident in the consumer partnership between Zain and HTC Vive. “As we look at the workplace going online […] we look at these virtual spaces and some of the things that we’ve learned in video games of people coming together to cooperate together to complete goals,” Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s vice president of gaming, told Kara Swisher.
and then