Meta Quest 3 China release reportedly gets scrapped

Plans for Meta to bring a ‘Quest 3 Lite’ VR headset to China in partnership with Tencent appear to have been suspended.

It is hardly a secret that the Chinese tech market is huge. It is big enough that Nvidia has gone to extraordinary measures to keep its stake in the country. It seemed like a logical progression that Meta would be attempting to bring its successful VR headset, the Meta Quest 3, to the Chinese market, but those plans may now be on hold since its partnership with Tencent has run into difficulty.

Many Western companies partner with Chinese-based companies or set up local subsidiaries to avoid strict regulations on Western companies. Back in November 2023, it was reported that Meta would be working in partnership with Tencent to bring a cheaper version of the Quest 3 headset to China.

The Quest 3 Lite may not make it to China

According to these reports, Tencent would be handling the Sales and customer support in China, and both companies would work together to localize and translate content on the Quest Store. Meta would receive the majority of revenue from headset sales, while Tencent would benefit from sales of apps and gaming content sales. This arrangement would work similarly to the partnership which allows Tencent to sell and support the Nintendo Switch in China.

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However, a new report obtained from Chinese news outlet VRTUOLUO (via UploadVR) states that the partnership between the two firms has been suspended due to unresolved issues regarding details on how the responsibilities would be divided between the companies.

The suspension of the partnership could owner the chances of Quest VR headsets coming to China. It could also put the existence of Quest 3 Lite in jeopardy, as China was set to be the main market for the cut-down version of the headset.