ByteDance mass lay offs Nuverse employess weeks after scrapping Mission EVO: Survivor’s Battlegrounds

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance founded a gaming division named Nuverse in 2019, which is facing many issues. The company is known for creating mobile games like Marvel Snap, Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade, and other individual projects. One of the most anticipated games from the studio was Mission EVO: Survivor’s Battlegrounds which was said to feature innovative gameplay fusing RUST and PUBG.

However, the development of the game reached an unexpected halt earlier this month on November 9, 2023. Only three weeks later, the company plans on laying off almost 3000 employees to downsize the workforce.

After closing down the project, the developers who were working on Mission EVO: Survivor’s Battlegrounds shared a personal message on Facebook. In that message, it was revealed that they had worked tirelessly to bring the game to life, but that didn’t work out due to other circumstances. The following was quoted in the post that was made on Facebook:

We failed to deliver on our promises and disappointed all the players who love and contribute to the product. But the harsh reality is that no matter how hard we tried, we could not save the team or the product. The only thing we can do now is to bid farewell with dignity to honor the memories we made on Emberland together.

Players who have already invested in the game after August 30, 2023, can apply for a refund. The developers even assured that they would assist the players in getting their refund. However, all of it has to be done before December 20, 2023. 

The game company will still continue to operate as they already have popular mobile games like Marvel Snap, Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade, Ragnarok: Next Generations, and more live-service titles. At the same time, Nuverse also doesn’t have a great reputation in the mobile gaming market and has tonnes of bugs that disrupt the experience.

Mission EVO: Survivor’s Battlegrounds could have been so good

Nuverse revealed their project Mission EVO: Survivor’s Battlegrounds quite a few months back and fans were excited since it featured RUST-like gameplay. Not only that, the game borrowed elements from Tencent’s PUBG Mobile to some extent because of the used assets and had smooth sailing during initial development.

The game featured many RUST-like features like horses, mining nodes, buildings, helicopters, and more. The company was able to recreate the game experience that PC or console players have into a portable version. Naturally, the game felt unique and was loved by players during the open-beta phase.

However, the project was shut down right after its open-beta release, leaving fans disappointed. The most interesting part of the game was how impressive it looked while letting players do as they please. Even though the game has been touted to be a RUST rip-off, the idea could have worked on a mobile platform.

On PC or other platforms, RUST players face a problem where they have to be constantly online to keep up with progress. This would require them to sit on their chairs and constantly play the game, to fend off foes. Yet, this problem won’t be a thing on mobile platforms, as players can access the title anytime and anywhere they want.

Even more with the release of Mission EVO: Survivor’s Battlegrounds, mobile gamers would get another great game to try and maybe start a new revolution in mobile gaming. As of now, many studios are trying to create mobile games that help them dominate the market, but it is tough to get a breakthrough in such a saturated environment.