TikTok's gaming efforts have fallen prey to China's tech crackdown

pcgamer.com:

Back in May, ByteDance—the Chinese company that owns TikTok—was trying to leverage its one billion users to make a foray into gaming(opens in new tab). In tests carried out in Vietnam, the company was experimenting with a system that saw users launch short, «bitesize» games that could be enjoyed for minutes, rather than hours, at a time. ByteDance also had plans for «mid- and hardcore» game development through its subsidiary Nuverse(opens in new tab).

The plan was meant to be a major part of ByteDance's strategy for expansion: the company went so far as to acquire Shanghai-based developer Moonton Technologies(opens in new tab) to kickstart its game creation efforts, but recent news has put those plans on shaky ground. As reported by SCMP(opens in new tab), ByteDance has begun «aggressively downsizing» its gaming operations. Wushuang Studio, another ByteDance-owned developer in Shanghai, is said to have lost most of its staff through a combination of lay-offs and internal restructuring. There have been similar job cuts at Jiangnan Studio in Hangzhou.

ByteDance is maintaining staff for games that have already launched, but the news makes it pretty clear which way the wind is blowing when it comes to the company's gaming ambitions. Efforts to turn TikTok into a gaming app are running into the same issues that every other games company in China(opens in new tab) has encountered in recent years: navigating the process of getting games approved for release by the government. 

In July, the Chinese government had only approved 172 games(opens in new tab) for release since the start of 2022, almost 600 fewer than the 755 it had approved in that same time period in 2021. Total revenue from gaming declined this year, the first time