TikTok parent company ByteDance has concluded plans to wind down its Nuverse gaming brand and retreat from mainstream video games.
“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,” the spokesperson said.
Hundreds of workers are probably going to be impacted by the decision; some only found out about it over the weekend.
They said, declining to be identified since the information was confidential, that the Chinese technology company has no plans to rejoin the $185 billion global video game business.
According to one of the sources, casual games that are available on TikTok and the casual gaming brand Ohayoo, which has games on Douyin, TikTok’s sibling app in China, won’t be impacted.
The launch of Nuverse in 2019 by ByteDance was largely regarded as a significant step towards international gaming and a tactical move to counter rival Tencent Holdings, the largest gaming firm in the world, at home.
After ByteDance formally recognised Nuverse as one of its six business units in 2021 as part of a larger structural reorganisation, Nuverse gained attention once more.
