ByteDance refocuses on casual games to take on Tencent and NetEase

Last month, the company introduced the mobile game platform Danjuan Games, which focuses on casual mobile games, followed by this month’s launch of its new publishing arm Pixmain. They join Nuverse, PixDance, and Ohayoo, the three game studios that ByteDance has previously launched.

Ohayoo focuses on casual games while Nuverse and PixDance are about mid-core and hardcore games, respectively, both of which require more effort.

With its expansion into the gaming space, the short-video platform aims to monetize user attention. Citing Ohayoo general manager Xu Peixiang, the report said that the game studio has published nine casual games over 18 months, with each one generating at least US$15.2 million in revenue.

See also: Alibaba takes another shot at online games: genius move or a bad call?

“ByteDance is heavily investing in each part of the video game industry value chain to solidify its presence as a major player in the games market,” Zeng Xiaofeng, vice-president of game consultancy Niko Partners, said in the report.

Beyond gaming, the company also launched its edtech brand Dali Education last month to disrupt the online education market in China. It recently invested US$165.6 million in Chinese e-book reader and publisher Zhangyue.