On Sunday, news emerged claiming that ByteDance’s gaming subsidiary, Nuverse, will initiate a large-scale layoff starting from Monday, November 27. Meanwhile, a chat screenshot started circulating inside the gaming community.
According to the information in the screenshot, the coming layoff will affect various research and development projects at Nuverse. Considering the large number of employees in Nuverse team, it is expected that thousands of people will be laid off in a short period of time. Multiple sources have linked this decision to Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance.
Over the past few years, ByteDance has acquired several gaming companies and has studios in Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen, all under the brand of Nuverse. However, Nuverse’s contribution to ByteDance’s revenue, profit, and user growth has been relatively limited in the past few years, making it difficult to bear the responsibility of a strategic business unit. Last week, Pandaily reported that ByteDance plans to sell Moonton, a game studio it just acquired in 2021, for $5 billion.
Chinese gaming blogger Gamelook believes that one of the main reasons for recent layoffs in ByteDance’s gaming business is that Zhang Yiming does not want to invest resources in game development and distribution, due to its limited contribution to the company.
The layoffs at Nuverse does not mean that ByteDance’s presence in the domestic gaming industry has diminished, however. Even if Nuverse’s self-research and distribution teams have undergone major adjustments, it has not affected ByteDance’s advertising sales to gaming companies. “It only means that ByteDance has given up the pursuit of a closed-loop model”, wrote Gamelook.
In addition, ByteDance is preparing for an IPO and needs to present better profitability. In the face of slowing growth both domestically and internationally, cost reduction and profit realization are necessary choices to persuade investors.
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