Chinese search engine giant Baidu is currently working on its own Metaverse app the company announced back in October. The metaverse app called XiRang (translated: Land of Hope) is supposed to lift the company into the metaverse.
However, to be compliant with crypto regulations in China, the app will not support cryptocurrencies associated with the virtual property. China has issued a general ban on cryptocurrencies only this year.
According to Baidu, however, it will take up to 6 years for the app to be ready CNBC reported. Baidu’s vice president Ma revealed that it will take about 6 years to launch. In addition, external Metaverse developers will be able to participate, as the company plans to run the app as an open-source platform.
This puts Baidu in the middle of the race with other Chinese tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba who are all working on Metaverse projects. Despite Chinese officials being critical of the Metaverse and issuing warnings, the big players are all working on it.