ByteDance, the owner of the prolific social media platform, TikTok, is attempting to sell off its gaming assets in a global move to pull out of the industry and focus on ‘other core businesses’. Most recently, it has been reported that ByteDance is seeking a deal with Tencent, the largest games company on Earth by market share, in a bid to completely offload both games and development studios.
TikTok Quits Gaming for Good?
For a while, ByteDance was getting heavily invested in the games industry. It was working hard to carve out a piece of the streaming business by welcoming gaming-based content creators to the platform, and to give credit to the attempt, some popular names started broadcasting on the platform.
It’s not at all expected that the streaming and content creation arcs of the gaming scene on TikTok will cease to exist, but ByteDance’s game development and marketing arms – which lean heavily on TikTok for promotion – will be sold. As recently as last October, TikTok’s gaming representatives were headlining events like the UK’s ‘EGX’ gaming expo.
Last year, ByteDance announced a restructuring that would see a ‘retreat’ from the games industry take place. This includes the sale of its development studios and games, such as Nuverse, Moonton, DreamStar, Crystal of Atland, and Earth: Revival.
In a report, Reuters confirmed that talks are ongoing between ByteDance and Tencent, both Chinese tech titans, but ‘no deal has been reached’.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Unity is laying off 25% of all employees
