IPhone maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. plans to expand its footprint in India with another NT$50 billion ($1.6 billion) investment for construction projects.
09.11.2023 - 20:33 / techcrunch.com / Lays Off
When Pico launched its Oculus Quest challenger in China last year, it did so with great optimism. Light (295 grams) and affordable ($420), the virtual reality headset released by the ByteDance-owned manufacturer was expected to drive adoption in a market inaccessible to Meta.
The odds were against Pico. Its sales have been sluggish, and this week, Pico, which was acquired by the TikTok parent two years ago, initiated a fresh round of layoffs.
This week, Pico held an internal meeting announcing a major reorganization. A person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch that “a few hundred” employees were let go, leaving Pico with “under 2,000” people.
Even after the layoff, Pico, as it stands today, has a significantly bigger headcount than the team of 200-300 when it was acquired. The shakeup suggests that Pico is regrouping to slash costs and pursue more sustainable growth after a period of aggressive expansion.
In a statement, a Pico spokesperson said that the unit was restructuring to focus more on “hardware and core technologies.”
“We frequently assess our business needs and make adjustments to strengthen our organization and better align our teams with company goals,” the spokesperson said.
Frequent assessments are indeed needed at a time when China’s post-COVID economic recovery misses expectations. China’s VR shipments shrank by 56% year-over-year in the first half of 2023, according to market research firm Counterpoint.
The slump “marked the end of the Chinese VR market’s two-year growth streak, spanning 2020-2022, and reverting to a state of stagnation,” the report said.
The decline was due to several factors. For one, Chinese consumers are spending less amid a weakening economy. To weather the tepid economic recovery, Pico has scaled back its marketing investments, leading to a smaller shipment target, according to Counterpoint’s analysis.
Another contributing factor is the lack of high-quality VR content that’s needed to drive mass adoption. VR technology is still in its infant stage of development, with hardware awaiting some meaningful advancements. At a time when businesses are tightening their belt, it only seems logical for Pico to focus on improving its hardware rather than investing heavily in content creation.
Further adding to its sales pressure is that in China, youth gaming — arguably one of the largest VR consumer categories — is “heavily regulated, with complicated content vetting processes and legally capped screen time,” suggested Gavin Newton-Tanzer, host of mixed-reality conference AWE Asia. Regulatory barriers also “complicated” Pico’s U.S. launch, said Newton-Tanzer.
“Pico has strong fundamentals, but luck and timing conspired against them, so some degree of restructuring was
IPhone maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. plans to expand its footprint in India with another NT$50 billion ($1.6 billion) investment for construction projects.
TikTok owner ByteDance is looking to get out of mainstream gaming, including at its subsidiary Nuverse, the publisher of Marvel Snap. ByteDance confirmed Monday in a statement to Polygon that it will “restructure” its gaming business. The decision is expected to lead to hundreds of layoffs, according to Reuters, which first reported the news. ByteDance has not confirmed the scope of its layoffs.
TikTok maker ByteDance is restructuring its video game business to deliver "long-term strategic growth."
By Jess Weatherbed, a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.
Chinese TikTok parent ByteDance is restructuring its video games business and reportedly stopping work on all unreleased games.
TikTok owner ByteDance is reportedly leaving the games industry following a restructure.
ByteDance’s gaming ambition has been an expensive, short-lived pursuit.
Layoffs have been one of the defining events of the games industry this year, with thousands of jobs being cut across dozens of companies, all attempting to slash costs as the rapid economic growth of the pandemic years comes screeching to a halt. No company is more emblematic of both these extremes than Embracer Group. In the last few years, Embracer has embarked upon a frenzied spending spree, snapping up studios like Gearbox, Crystal Dynamics Eidos Montreal, and many more, all apparently to stack the decks in a deal with an unknown partner worth at least $2 billion.
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