ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming tries Genshin Impact but wonders if his employees spend too much time on it
- In a screenshot widely shared online, Zhang Yiming asks if his workers are spending too much time discussing Genshin Impact during working hours
- The head of TikTok owner ByteDance tried out the hit new video game as the company expands in gaming to take on rivals Tencent and NetEase
As TikTok owner ByteDance pushes into video games in a bid to compete with industry heavyweights Tencent Holdings and NetEase, company CEO Zhang Yiming has expressed concern that his employees are spending too much time playing the Genshin Impact, the blockbuster new game from rival developer miHoYo.
In a screenshot shared online, and confirmed to the Post by a ByteDance employee, Zhang was seen posting a message in a group chat on the company’s enterprise collaboration tool Feishu, known as Lark overseas. Zhang lamented in the group that his employees were “talking excessively about [Genshin Impact] during work hours”.
Zhang said he initially joined the group chat because he was trying out the anime-styled, role-playing action game for himself. When he saw the frequency of chatter about Genshin Impact, he started to worry about the productivity of his employees.
“Although our company doesn’t ban occasional small talk, this gaming group has been so active for several days, I’m very surprised,” he wrote.
“There have been hundreds of messages since 10am,” he added. “I’m curious whether people who have been chatting in the group from early morning until now have a lot of free time during work hours today. Is this common?”
ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ByteDance employees are hardly alone in their enthusiasm for Genshin Impact. The title quickly became one of the biggest games of the year after it was released in September, when it had the biggest global launch ever of any Chinese game. According to app tracking firm Sensor Tower, the open-world game racked up US$245 million in October and US$148 million in November, averaging US$6 million every day.
Zhang’s comments about the game sparked widespread conversation on social media. A related Weibo topic was viewed more than 170 million times by Thursday afternoon.
“Yiming is still in his old style, very objective, very frank and clear,” one Weibo user wrote.
The renewed attention online comes just a few months after he was criticised by Chinese internet users over reports that ByteDance might sell TikTok to an American company. Netizens accused Zhang of having “knelt down to the US”.
The Post previously reported that Zhang would prefer to spin off its overseas operations rather than sell the app to a foreign company like Microsoft. A deal later struck with Oracle to have the enterprise software company manage the US operations of TikTok remains in limbo.
Unlike many of his peers heading rival tech giants, Zhang represents a younger generation of Chinese tech entrepreneurs. Born in China’s southeastern Fujian province in 1983, Zhang studied software engineering at university and built a reputation as someone who could fix computers.
Zhang created his first hit app in 2012. The news app Toutiao remains one of ByteDance’s core products, but the company would not see international success until it acquired Musical.ly in 2017 and merged it into TikTok, launched a year earlier.
As its geopolitical troubles overseas continue, ByteDance is pinning hopes on converting its users into paying gamers back home. The company has been rapidly expanding its gaming operations in recent years as it seeks new means of monetisation. Analysts have likened the company’s current approach to that of Tencent, which successfully paired social media and video games with lucrative results.
In September, ByteDance put up another 700 business-related positions and 200 technical positions in gaming.
ByteDance has so far seen mixed results from its foray into gaming. While it has made progress in casual games, the company does not yet have a competitive hardcore game – like Genshin Impact – that would allow it to compete with the likes of Tencent and NetEase.