ByteDance Cuts Project Team of Social Metaverse Product Party Island
On October 17, STAR Market Daily learned from insiders at ByteDance that in order to reduce costs and increase efficiency, it had cut the project team for social metaverse app Party Island, and that relevant staff had returned to their original teams.
Party Island was launched in mid-July this year and is positioned as a social online platform. The slogan of the app is “In Party Island, no one is an isolated island.” It is a real-time online activity community, upon which players can chat and interact through virtual images, and it is regarded by the industry as the first step for ByteDance to enter the metaverse field.
SEE ALSO: ByteDance Apps Including Shiqu Removed From Stores
During previous alpha tests, new users had to obtain an invitation code to enter the app. Later, users could log in through their Douyin account and create their own virtual avatars.
The sources said that due to problems related to safety procedures, Party Island was soon removed from app stores, and the project team was canceled because its date of relaunching was unknown.
For a long time now, ByteDance has persisted in efforts to develop operations within the social app field. After Duoshan and Feiliao, it has also begun to continuously improve the social functions within Douyin. This year, it has successively launched a number of new social products, including metaverse app Party Island and game community product Lingxun.
According to public information compiled by Chinese media outlet Ranciyuan, in the year from September 2021 until now, ByteDance has launched 10 new products, including Douyin Box, Soda Music, Shiqu, Party Island, Kesong and so on. However, six of the 10 new products have been removed from app stores, either due to the repeated failure of alpha testing or poor performance after launch.
It is worth mentioning that not long ago, ByteDance launched a new social function called “Douyin Zaizai” on the Douyin app. After entering this function interface, users can create their own virtual characters – exactly the same as Party Island. This new app is positioned to meet the needs of players chatting and interacting through virtual avatars.
