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ByteDance hits record revenue of $80bn, but at the cost of gaming?

Their latest figures has them head-to-head with fellow tech giant Tencent

ByteDance hits record revenue of $80bn, but at the cost of gaming?

ByteDance hit $80bn in revenue last year, placing them head-to-head with fellow tech giant Tencent, driven by their TikTok and Douyin platforms.

According to an anonymous source, who spoke to Bloomberg (via Yahoo), the figure was revealed in a memo to investors. Given that the company’s financials are usually a closely guarded secret, with 2022’s financials only revealed via a report shared with company employees. This new information would follow the previously revealed information that indicated an upward trajectory of ByteDance’s overall revenue last year.

It is also seemingly driven mainly by ByteDance’s two video apps, TikTok and Douyin - the latter being the Chinese version of TikTok - which have been both highly controversial and extremely popular. It’s also noted that this comes at a time when ByteDance’s gaming investments are being scaled back, including cuts in related divisions.

It’s a snap

These figures will be encouraging for many who are worried about the potential downturn tech companies in China may have been facing due to legislative crackdowns and the effects of the Covid pandemic. However, for those who are more concerned about gaming it may be concerning. Some may wonder if this means TikTok and Douyin will face even more focus in future, at the cost of ByteDance’s gaming efforts.

But whilst their internal gaming division has taken hits, their publishing arm Nuverse saw a major coup last year with the release of Marvel Snap, courtesy of Second Dinner. And the company has continued to push their “TikTok made me play it” campaign to encourage publishers and developers to look at the app as an advertising outlet. The release of minigames on TikTok in the UK further indicates that, whilst TikTok and Douyin drive revenue, we’re unlikely to see ByteDance ditch their efforts in gaming anytime soon.

We listed ByteDance as one of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022.

 


Staff Writer

Iwan is a Cardiff-based freelance writer, who joined the Pocket Gamer Biz site fresh-faced from University before moving to the Pocketgamer.com editorial team in November of 2023.