TikTok owner ByteDance has revealed that it's currently holding talks with Tencent and several other companies regarding the sale of its gaming assets.
According to Reuters (which cites a ByteDance spokesperson in turn), the company is in talks with "multiple prospective buyers", including gaming giant Tencent, as part of an ongoing retreat from the gaming industry.
As yet, no deals have been confirmed, which means that talks are likely still ongoing.
The South China Morning Post (again, citing another source in turn, this time local news outlet LatePost) reports that ByteDance's decision came as a result of failing to recoup development costs of over 100 million yuan (around $14 million).
Additionally, ByteDance reportedly spent roughly 30 billion yuan (about $4 billion) acquiring gaming studios between 2019 and 2022. These acquisitions included mobile studio Moonton, as well as big investments in companies like Umi Game.
These investments don't seem to have paid off for ByteDance; according to Niko Partners' Lisa Hanson (via SCMP), less than 1% of ByteDance's $54 billion profit in 2023's first half came from gaming.
This news comes after significant downsizing regarding ByteDance's gaming division throughout 2022 and 2023.
In September 2022, a report suggested that ByteDance had laid off hundreds of its gaming employees, although since that wasn't an official announcement, no reason was given.
Back in November last year, meanwhile, further reports pointed to ByteDance planning to make a retreat from the mainstream gaming industry, although this wasn't expected to affect TikTok games or the casual brand Ohayoo.
Following these reports, Marvel Snap developer Nuverse took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to reassure players that the game wasn't going anywhere and would "continue to operate and flourish in the future".
We'll have to wait and see whether ByteDance's talks with Tencent and other studios bear fruit. Stay tuned for more info on this.
