In a bizarre display of complete disregard for employees’ private lives, the CEO of a Chinese gaming major has pulled up his staff for “chilling on weekends”. Pony Ma, the co-founder of tech and gaming giant, Tencent, while addressing a town-hall meeting gave out a simple message to his employees — that one needs to stop relaxing over the weekend if company’s revenues are dipping.
While it is easy to give an earful to one’s employees, the generally mild mannered Pony Ma’s tirade didn’t quite explain the real reason why his company and the flouring gaming industry in China is going downhill as it might have landed him in jail. Speaking against government policies is not entertained in the country.
The government in September, 2021 had put massive regulations on the addictive gaming industry to save its kids and young from falling prey to destructive habits. Chinese government maintained that gaming addiction was the reason behind increased mental health issues in Chinese youth.
The gaming industry has been driven to extinction by the Chinese government it brought in a series of regulations to tackle the problem. Pony Ma’s frustration stems from the fact that he has lost $14.6 billion after a sweeping crackdown on the gaming industry last year. The company also laid off employees in thousands this year.
Interestingly, Pony Ma is known to be a mild mannered man. But clearly the cracks are showing in the company owing to government curbs.
The Chinese government has claimed that the curbs have been so successful that it has completely resolved the problem of gaming addiction among youth.
The tech giant Tencent Holdings has begun a fresh round of job cuts targeted at its video streaming, gaming and cloud businesses, some media outlets reports. These reports come at a time when tech major Xiaomi laid off over 30,000 people from mainland China.
Chinese regulators in September last year brought in new rules banning anyone under 18 from playing video games for more than three hours a week, a stringent governmental intervention that it said was necessitated to pull the plug on a growing addiction leading to loss of productivity.