Pico's Workforce Slashed Amid Global VR Decline

Chinese VR headset startup Pico, acquired by ByteDance (the company behind TikTok) in mid-2021, is reportedly laying off a significant number of employees, with thousands expected to be affected. Pico's workforce will be reduced to just "hundreds" compared to its peak of around 2000. The layoffs come after reports of sales not meeting expectations and "factional disputes" between original employees and new staff added by ByteDance. Pico's exclusive title, Just Dance VR, has yet to ship, and the company is shifting its content funding towards controller-free hand tracking. It remains to be seen if ByteDance will focus on competing with Apple Vision Pro rather than Meta Quest.