Chinese tech giants Tencent and ByteDance plan to cut their Metaverse divisions
Tencent and Bytedance, two of China’s biggest tech companies, are planning hundreds of layoffs in their Metaverse development groups, according to separate reports. Tencent, best known for its software business, is currently announcing its plans to enter the metaverse hardware market, apparently affecting hundreds of company employees. He is also leaving.
According to local outlets, the company told more than 300 employees that they should seek opportunities for work and that a dedicated extended reality division for the development of the latest products would be disbanded. The company confirms it was reconciling employees as its plans changed. Santosh rejected the idea that the above group would be laid off. Tencent had been working on a dedicated Metaverse color controller but abandoned the initiative due to the large investment in its construction and unfavorable prior estimates of its profitability. According to sources, according to the new policy of the company, it is no longer fully fit.
Byte Dance’s Pico, the Metaverse headset hardware division, is also facing similar difficulties and plans to cut hundreds of jobs. The South China Morning Post reports that the company can expect to lose up to 30 percent of employees due to layoffs in certain groups, who may even reach high-level positions. The company recently released the latest Pico series in hopes of a first foray into the Asian markets and the launch was a success with the company claiming to have won the virtual reality handset market compared to the roughly 85 percent controlled by Meta. Kept 15 percent of the share. Henry Zhou, Pico’s founder and CEO, said that he expects to sell more than 1 million headset units. The report comes during a push by the world’s largest companies to cut back on their efforts to build metaverse-based hardware and software, as well as reduce spending in the field. Microsoft and Meta, two Western tech giants, have also carried out similar actions. Microsoft is closing several metaverse-focused groups as part of its 10,000-employee layoff round and meanwhile estimates it will continue to lose money on the metaverse into 2023 and is reportedly planning a new round. which laid off 13% of its headcount last year.