Zwift halts plans for smart bike amid company layoffs
The company had previously announced plans to create hardware
Indoor training platform Zwift has paused its plans for a smart bike and has also reportedly laid off over 150 employees, according to blogger DC Rainmaker. In December, the popular program and gaming app pre-announced their own new Zwift bike as well as a Zwift trainer. DC Rainmaker was the first to break that news as well, having earned the bike through a hardware purchasing survey. “The survey outlined two new Zwift products, and a smart bike called the Zwift Ride,” he wrote on his website.
There was also a direct drive trainer called the Zwift Wheel. “The Zwift trainer can be upgraded into the Zwift smart bike, which then includes illuminated wheels to basically make yourself a real-world glowing Zwift Tron bike.”
These plans appear to have been kiboshed. Furthermore, the company seems to be reorganizing. Although the exact number of employees being let go was not official, inside sources have suggested it will affect at least, if not more than 150 people.
Zwift released a statement about the news. “Given the current macroeconomic environment, we have decided to scale back our hardware offering, pausing plans to launch a smart bike,” the company posted. “As a consequence, Zwift has implemented difficult, yet important changes to the organization of the business. We are grateful for the contributions of all those impacted and have done our very best to support them.”
The company added that they are committed to increasing the development of the core Zwift game experience, increasing the speed of new feature releases, and making the platform more accessible than ever before.
