Hong Kong, Sep 6 : Chinese conglomerate ByteDance has been forced to lay off hundreds of employees from its gaming division, as the media reported on Tuesday as the government clamps into gaming on the Internet and the gaming sector with strict rules.The South China Morning Post reported that ByteDance the proprietor of short-form video application TikTok is aggressively cutting down its video gaming department which will affect hundreds of employees.
“The Beijing-based business, which just a year ago was investing millions into its gaming operation, has sacked the Shanghai-based Wushuang Studio of most of its employees by laying off workers and internal transfers, following the closing of 101 Studio in June,” the report mentioned the sources.
ByteDance is also said to be cutting the number of jobs available in Jiangnan Studio, its game development studio in Hangzhou district.
In the month of June, ByteDance shut down a game development studio and laid on more than 100 people.
In the last month, China’s biggest social media and video gaming company Tencent eliminated 5,500 employees from the payroll in the second quarter of this year due to an economic slowdown.
There were reports that TikTok began to sack employees around the world in the course of “a vast overhaul of its organization”.
Some employees working in Europe received notice in July that their jobs could be at risk.
In a clampdown on regulation as part of a crackdown on regulatory corruption, the Chinese government has also halted the issue of new gaming licenses according to the report.
Since the beginning of the year, Chinese regulatory authorities have been securing more leniency against local tech giants in order to stop their dominance in the online sector.
The total amount of revenue earned by Chinese video gaming companies and the number of gamers fell in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same time last year.
na/vd
