Meaning:

“降” means “to lower,” “维” means “dimension,” and “打击” means “to strike, attack.” The term, first used in the sci-fi trilogy “The Three-Body Problem,” refers to the attack strategy of reducing the dimensionality of the living environment of the enemy so that the enemy can no longer survive. While the strategy, which leads to a destroyed environment, may pose a threat to the attacker too, he needs to evolve and adapt to the new environment. The term has been frequently used as a metaphor for situations where a newcomer in an industry changes the established rules and poses a huge threat to existing players.

Example:

A: 为什么短视频那么火？

Wèishénme duǎnshìpín nàme huǒ？

Why have short videos become so popular?

B: 因为大家醒着的时间是有限的，而且注意力时长也越来越短，所以短视频对游戏和长视频造成了降维打击。

Yīnwèi dàjiā xǐngzhe de shíjiān shì yǒuxiàn de，érqiě zhùyìlì shícháng yě yuèláiyuèduǎn，suǒyǐ duǎnshìpín duì yóuxì hé chángshìpín zàochéng le jiàngwéi dǎjī。

Because the time people are awake is limited, and their attention span is becoming shorter, short videos, which make less demand of the watcher’s time, pose a rule-changing threat to online games and long videos.