Tencent and Bytedance Trim Metaverse Muscle: A Bitter Pill to Swallow?
In an unfortunate turn of events, the tech industry has seen a massive reduction in its workforce during 2022 and 2023. Countless top tech companies have issued layoffs or cut their employees’ salaries as the market begins to tumble. This is yet another reminder of how fast the world changes – especially in the technology space.
Now that new troubling news has emerged from the Chinese tech world, Tencent and Bytedance both are intending to lay off a large workforce in their respective metaverse divisions including Pico, its metaverse eyewear arm. Tencent has confirmed it will be initiating adjustments of staff amid the rumors of the metaverse product’s disbandment.
The implications of these downsizing efforts are dire, as they speak to a broader trend of cutback within the tech industry. Hopefully, this destabilizing sequence of events can be contained before too much damage has been done.
Tencent and Bytedance’s decision to downsize their workforce amidst the ongoing challenges has not been an isolated phenomenon, as Microsoft and Meta have already followed suit. A knowledgeable source reports that Meta plans on executing a massive layoff drive to mitigate costs.
Why Tech Giants Have Taken this Decision?
COVID-19 and lockdowns triggered an unprecedented demand for online services, as a result, many tech professionals had got an opportunity to work for big tech companies.
But their happiness turned into a nightmare as the pandemic and lockdown end consumer demands slowed down and were worsened by a global economic slump, the companies now have found themselves struggling with a suddenly large workforce that they are now ill-equipped to sustain. As such, many of them have decided to reluctantly let go of a significant portion of their staff to manage the unavoidable cutbacks.
