TikTok parent ByteDance's foray into gaming, once touted as a significant venture, has proven to be a costly and short-lived endeavor. TikTok's gaming department, Nuverse, is now significantly downsizing its operations after two years of underwhelming performance, the media has reported. Despite being spotlighted as one of the company's core business units in late 2021, Nuverse is now making this unexpected move which has aparently taken many employees by surprise.
Starting Monday, the latest series of widespread layoffs has left numerous Nuverse team members in queue, awaiting decisions about their future, as reported by TechCrunch, citing sources familiar with the matter. The extent of the impact on employees remains uncertain, but earlier in 2021, Nuverse quickly expanded to approximately 3,000 individuals and has largely maintained that workforce size in the subsequent years, as reported by Chinese tech news outlet LatePost.
Notably, ByteDance also made significant investments in acquisitions, such as the notable $4 billion acquisition of the promising Shanghai-based studio, Moonton.
“We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to center on long-term strategic growth areas. Following a recent review, we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business,” a ByteDance spokesperson was quoted as saying by TechCrunch, in a statement.
To recall, earlier this month, media reports said hundreds of families were suing social media giants like TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook parent Meta in the US and they feel the tech companies as "big, bad monsters". According to a report in BBC, the plaintiffs include ordinary families and school districts from across the US.
"I literally was trapped by addiction at age 12. And I did not get my life back for all of my teenage years,” Taylor Little, now 21, was quoted as saying in the report that came out on Monday.
Taylor also struggled with content around body image and eating disorders.
Taylor and hundreds of other American families are suing four of the biggest tech companies -- Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, Google and Snap Inc (parent of Snapchat).
In a statement, Meta said that their thoughts are with the families represented in these complaints.
"We want to reassure every parent that we have their interests at heart in the work we are doing to provide teens with safe, supportive experiences online,” the social media giant had said.