ByteDance, the parent company behind the hit short form content social platform TikTok, has announced that it will be winding down its gaming department, with a new wave of layoffs incoming. This follows the layoffs that ByeDance had to perform in its VR division, and overall, there seems to be trouble brewing in the Chinese firm. Nuverse, the company that developed popular games like Marvel Snap, Ragnarok X: Next Generation and One Piece: Blood Routes were acquired by ByteDance to develop their gaming arm, but it now has come to light that they want to divest from all the titles and to that effect, they intend to lay off Nuverse, or at least majority of the people involved with them.
At the moment, all the titles will be supported, but for how long is anybody’s guess. From the outside looking in, these aforementioned game titles are doing really well, in terms of reception and business, but the CEO of ByteDance Liang Rubo criticised Nuverse for misallocation of funds and a lack of focus. To add to their misery, it seems that Douyin and ad businesses are bringing in more revenue than the whole of the gaming arm put together.
It is estimated that close to 700 people will be affected by these layoffs, and there is no saying whether we will see these popular games for much longer, as even supporting game titles require funds, and it doesn’t seem like ByteDance has any intentions to provide them with more money.
Stay tuned to this space for more updates on this new development.
