Finding favor in the large void left by popular social media appVine,TikTokbecame quite the internet sensation over the last year, with videos from the site quickly spreading over numerous other social media platforms. It goes without saying that the studio behind the widely popular online phenomenon, ByteDance, would no doubt be looking to expand their business beyond TikTok going forward, and as it turns out, its next major venture will be down a rather surprising path.
Coming from a report by Bloomberg, it seems ByteDance will be looking to dominate themobile gamingmarket in a similar fashion to how it did with social media, stating that it will release two games by the end of the year. The yet to be named titles will supposedly drop during spring this year and will be developed by a team of over a thousand developers consisting of “top talent from rivals.”
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Speaking on the new creative direction for the team, Daniel Ahmad, an analyst for Niko Partners, told Bloomberg that, “Having fully established itself as a leader in short video with over one billion users across its apps, ByteDance is now building multiple game studios by acquiring experienced game developers and talent.” He followed on by stating that the studio behindTikTok’s"massive global user base and investment in gaming could make it a big disruptor in the gaming space this year.”
Although it remains to be seen what these newmobile gamescould be, ByteDance’s dedication to assembling a strong team of industry veterans means that it could well succeed in creating a majorly popular series of games in 2020. As TikTok has shown, the company clearly has a firm grasp on how best to distribute and popularize online content, so developing and publishing a video game seems like a wise next step as it pushes forward into the new decade. Having such a strong social media app in the studio’s portfolio also means ByteDance has a natural way to promote the titles as well, so it seems likely TikTok users will hear a lot more about the studio’s new games as they get further into development.
Of course, ByteDance isn’t the first successful social media company to try its hand at video game development. Facebook has been attempting to breach the market for a long time, purchasing the studio behind the Oculus Rift with the hopes of becoming a major staple of VR gaming. The iconic social media app also welcomed video game streaming as a major part of its brand, recently bringing aboard Twitch regulars such asDisguisedToast.
ByteDance has twoUntitled Gamesin development that will release during the spring of 2020.
