Marvel Snap’s publisher, Nuverse, and its parent company ByteDance just confirmed a company-wide restructuring that may see it stepping away from the video game industry. Read on to learn more details about the situation.
ByteDance To Restructure Its Gaming Arm
Nuverse, known for one of 2022’s best-selling mobile games, Marvel Snap, will have several of its current projects shut down following a restructuring effort by its parent company ByteDance.
"We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to center on long-term strategic growth areas," a spokesman for ByteDance said in a statement. "Following a recent review, we've made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business."
The restructuring will be localized to its Nuverse gaming arm, leaving Ohayoo - another of ByteDance’s gaming branches - and other casual TikTok games untouched.
Company Restructuring Likely To Affect Hundreds of Employees
Reportedly, ByteDance is set to halt the development of Nuverse’s unreleased titles by December 2023—a decision that is expected to impact hundreds of employees. ByteDance is also reportedly looking for ways to divest from games it has already released, potentially including some of Nuverse’s greatest titles like Marvel Snap, Ragnarok X: Next Generation, and One Piece: Blood Routes.
With these recent changes, it’s looking like ByteDance is looking to pull out of the gaming market without any intention of coming back any time soon.
Following The Video Game Industry Layoffs of 2023
The potential cuts at ByteDance continue a harrowing trend of widespread layoffs that’s been following video game companies in 2023, with the likes of Epic Games, Ubisoft, and Ascendant Studios among the more notable names to be affected.
Just recently, Embracer Group laid off nearly 900 employees and canceled 15 upcoming games in an effort to cut costs. Only time will tell if this trend will continue well into the next year, but it's clear that ByteDance will be one of the companies affected in 2023.
