It’s no secret by now that 2023 has been an incredibly difficult year for those in the video game industry. Many companies like Bethesda, Unity, Epic Games, Amazon Gaming and Digital Bros have had to let go up to hundreds of workers. Now, TikTok parent company ByteDance is the latest to get affected by this unfortunate trend.
In a report by Reuters, ByteDance has decided to completely restructure their gaming brand, Nuverse, as they leave the mainstream gaming industry. Speaking to Reuters, the only information on the decision a spokesperson gave them was simply: “We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to centre on long-term strategic growth areas. Following a recent review, we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business.”
As of Monday, November 27, 2023, all employees are to stop working on any unreleased games by December. Hundreds of employees are to be let go by the company, though some just learned about the decision this past weekend.
Nuverse is perhaps best recognized as the publisher behind the popular Marvel Snap, a mobile/web collectable card game that launched in October 2022 and features a variety of Marvel characters. Fortunately for “Snappers,” the game’s official X/Twitter page states that the game will continue despite Nuverse’s demise.
The decision also isn’t expected to affect any of the company’s gaming operations elsewhere, such as casual gaming brand Ohayoo on Douyin–TikTok’s equivalent in China–or any of the mini games that can be played on TikTok.
Reuters also reported that ByteDance is looking to sell their game development subsidiary Moonton Technology, as well as cutting a lot of staff for their virtual reality company Pico.
Nuverse was formed in 2019 to focus on standalone mobile and web games, apparently in an attempt to rival Tencent, world’s largest video game vendor that is also based in China. Tencent also dominates the mobile gaming sector for China, so while rivalry with Nuverse would be welcomed, it seems that it was in vain.