pico — Image courtesy Pico

Pico Confirms Acquisition by TikTok Parent Company, Rumored $775 Million Purchase Price

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Aug 30, 2021

Following rumors that it was poised to be acquired by TikTok parent company ByteDance, VR headset maker Pico has confirmed the purchase, according to reporting by Chinese VR publication Nweon. The acquisition price hasn’t been officially announced but is rumored to be ¥5 billion (~$775 million).

Update (August 30th, 2021): After rumors began swirling late last week, Chinese VR publication Nweon says that an internal Pico memo has confirmed the acquisition by ByteDance. VR Tuoluo is reporting a rumored cost of ¥5 billion (~$775 million) for the acquisition, though an official figure hasn’t been confirmed.

At $775 million the purchase would still be well short of the $2.4 billion Facebook paid for Oculus in 2014, but it would still be a landmark acquisition in the history of VR.

The original article, which covers the initial rumors of the acquisition last week, continues below.

In a move that in some ways parallels Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus in 2014, TikTok parent company ByteDance is looking to buy Pico—the VR headset maker behind headsets like the standalone Neo 3 and G2 4K—according to a report by Bloomberg citing a source “familiar with the matter.”

According to the report, talks about an acquisition are ongoing and a final decision hasn’t been made.

Chinese VR news publication Nweon reports that due diligence for the deal was happening as far back as June. If that’s true, and the deal discussion is still ongoing, it suggests the deal is quite far along and could be nearing a conclusion.

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Founded in 2015, Pico claims to have more than 300 employees around the world. The company has raised some $66 million in venture capital to date, with its most recent round just earlier this year.

While the Pico is best known in the Western VR market as a maker of enterprise VR headsets, the company has ambitions to compete with Facebook and the likes of Quest in the consumer market as well. A consumer angle seems like the likely approach for ByteDance which is largely built around consumer-focused applications.

ViRGiN

just look at their storefront offerings – outside of few ported quest games, it’s complete shovel ware. this has no right to work anywhere outside of china.
- guest
  
  Uh, its the other way around. Quest has no right to work in China (and many other places that ban Facebook).
  - ViRGiN
    
    It doesn’t have to. Only internet retards are worried of “Facebook” dominance in vr sphere.
  - kontis
    
    This is unfortunately (!) correct.
    
    It’s quite terrifying how Chinese companies have the entire global market for themselves, but for the rest of the world China is extremely inaccessible and only the elites with special deals can be successful there. Chinese gaming studios literally make billions in “western” countries, but good luck to you trying to sell there something.
    
    IMO USA and EU should together create laws limiting them in a mirrory way to be fair. What currently is happening is unsustainable and it’s like we are masochists begging China to dominate us. Crazy.
Arcticu Kitsu

We genuinely need competition with the way Oculus behaves. I feel far happier with the Valve Index happy they’re looking into a standalone VR wireless headset. Pico Neo 3 is a nice alternative to Oculus Quest & Quest 2, shame it’s region locked to China only. Pico Neo 3 even has proper cooling.

DecaGear VR looks promising, though need to look into that deeper. If this allows Oculus to snap back to reality then I’ll be happy with this. The amount of neglect and bloatware I had to deal with on Oculus side was unreal.

Anything but Oculus…. I already play Azur Lane and Genshin Impact, even owning a DJI Tello so I might as well weirdly fanboy over any new Pico products. WIth the heatwave I would love to have a Pico Neo 3, though the timing would be off read from any point in the future.
- ViRGiN
  
  Lmao, valve index and decagear in one comment. What a joke. I’m 100% sure either you’re big tits anime girl I’m vrchat, or a furry in neosvr. Nobody else is ever curious about deca.
  
  How’s that €1000 crap holding out after 2 years? You’re so clueless and ignorant of everything valve is not doing for vr, but hey, i bet you’re a happy gamer, cause all your games are on steam and you love this sort of monopoly and negligence.
  - Arcticu Kitsu
    
    Jealous and envious much? Much happier than you are, that’s for sure.
    
    My Valve index is doing great, and as I just said, Oculus is trash. Decagear looks promising. I see you’re the real ignorant one here, not me. Pico Neo 3 is great.
    
    My games work great in Valve, can’t complain. Stop being envious and actually do something in your life. Had a lot of fun in VR, more so once I obtained the Valve Index for pure smooth gameplay and experiences.
    - ViRGiN
      
      Mah valve
      - Arcticu Kitsu
        
        Troll
- benz145
  
  What makes you say Quest doesn’t have proper cooling?
  - ViRGiN
    
    Just a Chinese one having something that Quest doesn’t is seen as better for him. He just want to shits to Oculus, like what kind of bloatware he is talking about? He is clearly illiterate with computers, but enough to install steam and not complain about it’s monopoly
    - Arcticu Kitsu
      
      Stop whining and moaning and actually use a VR headset like we all have. I guess your username suits you well.
      
      Oculus program to use the Rift slowed the computer down while over time and constantly asked to reinstall video drivers. Their cable.l also tangled harshly into crash knots.
      
      Instead of trolling learn more about VR first hand
      - ViRGiN
        
        Cry me a river. Never had any of these issues. But you ahead and buy a Deca. It “looks” promising.
        
        Steamvr is shit.
      - Arcticu Kitsu
        
        Sucks to be you. I’ve had so much fun in VR, unlike you heh.
        
        Pout and cry all you want, you can’t stop the momentum of VR. You’re just a little troll. SteamVR is where it is at while having standalones is also necessary, especially those that aren’t evil as Oculus.
        
        What’s your next trolling comment? :)
        
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/afc2cd7ec7bcc91efc7bbefeed5a746bc05894ce30a0e0e88abea0429baa3a29.png
        
        What can you boast about in life? How much you whine and moan on a RtVR blog comment section while I have fun in VR? :)
        
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d9ef548d900fea3e4d05a4a1f75200f32751c7917b53d6dc474b385d0f147ff2.png
        
        Flying in VR is also a fun experience. But I guess I’ll instead hear a stupid jealousy and envious comment from you. I probably won’t get a DecaGear because I already have a VR headset, though you never know. Priorities in life, something you’re highly unfamiliar with the every day workings of life :)
      - ViRGiN
        
        Haha, you are indeed so hurt.
        And yup, typical anti social in real life, claiming vrchat is social.
        
        Who cares if you have fun in VR, real life is all that really matters, but you already gave up on it.
      - Arcticu Kitsu
        
        No I’m not, you’re self projecting your own feelings into your posting. If I was hurt I’d show I’m hurt. I’m fine. You’re the one whining and moaning, being a pain in the ass showing how jealous and envious you are :)
        
        HA! Look at you trying to save face. Your last point makes no sense what-so-ever. Have fun trolling with jealousy and envy ha!
      - ViRGiN
        
        Ahh, look, yet another post without anything to convince deca is not a scam
      - Arcticu Kitsu
        
        Virgin is a troll for trolling and trolling. That is all you do eh? Just trolls and whine and whine and moan. What a life you lead.
        
        We have to wait till the release date to see how it actually is. Decamove is rated highly, look on YouTube. People love Decamove moving VR into a direction it needed to go. Anybody who screams Decagear is a scam is an attention seeking moron. Wait for reviews for when it releases.
      - ViRGiN
        
        Who the hell rates it highly?
        
        Wait for reviews before calling it real cause you got a totally unrelated product from the same company. LMAO
        
        Quest 2 is rated highly, but all you did was to trash it
      - Arcticu Kitsu
        
        Who rates the Decamove highly? Thrillseekr, among other VR reviewers and enthusiasts. Go look around instead of trolling. As for Decagear, wait.
        
        Quest 2 is rated highly on accessibility and storage, nothing else. The moment Pico Neo 3 and DecaGear releases (and Steam VR wireless headset) the shift occur moving away from Oculus. This is a fact. View the reviews and you’ll see people hate Oculus and Facebook.
  - Arcticu Kitsu
    
    Reading the reviews noted how Quest is tuned lower while the Pico Neo 3 is tuned higher because Pico Neo 3 had a fan that also probably coincidentally blows on your knows. A reviewer enjoyed that feature.
    
    Reviews.
- Andrew Jakobs
  
  Since when is the Pico neo 3 region locked?
  - Arcticu Kitsu
    
    Read it in a review so that is what I’m going by. Now, if I had one myself I wouldn’t have said this, but because of accessibility I HAVE to go by reviews.
    
    https://skarredghost.com/2021/05/10/pico-neo-3-pro-eye-china/
    
    If you don’t agree then take it up with Skarredghost.
    - Andrew Jakobs
      
      Where in the article you link to does it say it’s region locked, as I can’t find it.
      - Arcticu Kitsu
        
        I guess you missed it, and it was also bolded. Funny.
        
        If you are happy with all these conditions, there is another bad news for you: the store doesn’t work outside China.
        
        Well, you can use it but it’s mainly 99% Chinese oriented with a fraction of support outside of China. If you have connections I guess you can get it to work. Now we just need to get them motivated to get it working outside of China so we can have proper competition.
        
        Then there are those parts in the bolded just to get it to work, to own it, etc.
        
        (ViRGiN, please stop being a dick in these comment sections. We’re having a conversation. Stop being an Anti-VR moron trying to gain attention when you can’t get any in real life.)
      - guest
        
        Yes, unlock the market is not the same as region locking. Also, looks like the ghost was reviewing a device he did not have…
- CaryMGVR
  
  DecaGear is a scam.
  - Arcticu Kitsu
    
    At least elaborate instead of making me wonder as to why. If you’re going to say it’s a scam then at least go along with what I said about Oculus having bloatware, abandons their user base, and etc. Their VR cables were trash. Valve Index treated me far better.
    - ViRGiN
      
      He just explained, it’s a scam. Just like you explained your bullshit of “bloatware”.
      
      I do hope more people like you will pay for DecaGear. Always brings joy seeing people learning the hard way.
      - Arcticu Kitsu
        
        Your comment isn’t relevant. Nothing was explained by either of you. All you’re doing is being a dick in this comment section.
      - ViRGiN
        
        You don’t get to not explain yourself, and tell others to explain themselves.
        
        DecaGear is a scam. Read my comment again in a year.
      - Arcticu Kitsu
        
        I explained myself, you simply chose to troll. if you don’t want to listen, gaslighting people then it sucks to be you.
oomph2

Yes the time is now.
Tomorrow AR/VR may become mainstream with each & every spectacles having AR/VR ability in future. All they need to do is to etch optical waveguides & add micro-electronics.
- Ashley Azevedo
  
  I’m making 88 US bucks per-hr for doing job staying at home…~go200~I’ve not ever realized that it could be even achievable but my closest buddy was producing $27k just within five weeks simply working this super career & also she convinced me to avail…~go200~See extra info visiting following web page >>> https://9di.es/yeoefox7
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- Dawn Dermody
  
  I am able to collect 80 dollars per/hr to do job off a home computer…~gh220~I’ve not at all imagined like it can achievable however my best mate produced $26,000 just in four weeks just working this best project and also she had influenced me to avail…~gh220~more details on following web-site >>> https://abre.ai/secure4
  .
- kontis
  
  Yes the time is now.
  
  — Palmer Luckey, 2014.
  
  All they need to do is to etch optical waveguides
  
  Yeah. it’s THAT simple.
CaryMGVR

So what do people think’s gonna happen, huh …? lol
That the AIOVR landscape is suddenly gonna be shifted?
TikTok/Pico [TTP] will do absolutely nothing in the Western VR market.
Everybody’s frothing at the mouth over this for no reason.
And even if TTP DID do something here, nobody’s bringing down Quest 2.
Nobody.
The only users that care about Q2’s Facebook requirement are
a few Reddit loudmouths with too much free time on their blathering hands.
This is, as they say, much ado about nothing.
- Andrew Jakobs
  
  Oh, could you please stop using bold for every single post you make. It’s like all capital.. I know why you do it, you try to be noticed as bold stands out much more..
  - xyzs
    
    I just blocked him because of that, can’t even see what he shouts now.
    My eyes now feel better and I am not missing lots anyway.
- lelandwalker
  
  last Friday i got a $9866 because i was jobless i want to keep my study therefore,~sd829~…i worked on this web and earned $7400 last week i provide my pals and friends to do that…. ~sd829~…..work you want to recognize that what number of bucks i earned in last week study this website to take extra facts..=))>
  
  >>>>> https://bit.ly/3mFunxI?/829
  .
- kontis
  
  Your lack of self awareness is incredible.
Walter Sharrow

They would have to use this to start selling the Pico at a sizable loss to catch up to the Quest 2’s sales. Even at it’s lowest price, it’s about $500, as I recall. It’s stats also lag behind the Quest 2. About the only thing it has that really amazed me was a FAN FOR MY SWEATY FACE.

Seriously, people have been making HMD’s for Drone Racing for over a decade, even longer then Oculus existed, and a standard feature on every good one is a little fan to dry the sweat before it pours into your eyeballs. Why has Oculus never considered something so basic??
- ViRGiN
  
  Weird jab at Oculus. It’s only $299, and there was no real review on pico fan system. Real question is why this feature isn’t on so called “high end” headsets
  - XRC
    
    Vive Focus 3 has active cooling fan, perhaps a little too active according to early review?
    - Blaexe
      
      They all have active cooling fans. The one of Focus 3 is just significantly louder because it’s clocked higher.
    - Christian Schildwaechter
      
      FAN FOR MY SWEATY FACE.
      
      I think with bold, capitalized and underlined text Walter left little doubt that he is not talking about the cooling fan for the SoC, but one for the person wearing the HMD, something that seems to be standard feature in FPV HMDs. This would no doubt improve comfort.
      
      The comparison isn’t really fair, as the HMDs used for drone racing are basically just wireless video screens, much lighter at below 200g without the battery, the battery isn’t sitting on the HMD itself, extra noise isn’t a problem and thanks to a low FoV and smaller lenses there is actually enough room for a face facing fan.
TonyVT SkarredGhost

I hope we won’t need a Tik Tok account to use Pico headsets lol
- XRC
  
  “Pico Tik Tok”…
Arcticu Kitsu

In honestly amazed by how many trolls roam free in the comment section. Again, this is a necessary direction to compete with Oculus. Hope to hear more news about this to see where it goes, for science.
- Christian Schildwaechter
  
  Tip for the future: never ever feed a troll, and never start throwing insults. The first will only lead to more trolling, the second will lose you the support of others that are also annoyed by them. When in doubt act like an adult, stick to arguments only, swallow your pride and ignore personal attacks. This helps enormously with keeping discussions civilized.
  - Arcticu Kitsu
    
    Noted.
ZarathustraDK

A chinese TikTok-headset…

Yeah…no, I know I said “anything but a Facebook headset”, but this is ridiculous. I give facebook shit for a lot of stuff, but if we have to compare turds, then Facebook > CCP after all.
Anonymous

No, absolutely no Pico anywhere else.

I do not want to support a fuc_ing communist company who collect as much information domestically and globally and feed to hackers either for brainwashing propaganda or all sorts of attacks. Not to mention any profit these dickheads get will be taxed by the Chinese party who will use it to fund military or secret police to hurt more people.

Any other headset, any other country, I full heartedly support and welcome the competition against Quest. But Pico, please boycott this dangerous crap. Let it fuc_ing die and sanction the shit out of it so they can’t get the needed chips.
CIR

https://media3.giphy.com/media/1Ib5HZ0SkpVAI/giphy.gif
Foreign Devil

This makes sense. . because you can’t easily use Quest 2 in China. . . so they’ve created at VR vacuum in the Chinese market and as usual a Chinese company has been given all the necessary competitive advantages to fill it.
xyzs

VR seems doomed to belong to the worst companies in the world.
What’s the next big VR player, Monsanto ?
- Rosko
  
  Apple
OOLuigiOo

Thought ByteDance was a VR Game.