Niantic, the company responsible for Pokémon GO, has confirmed that it will lay off two hundred and thirty employees, almost a quarter of its workforce.
The reason is the closure of his Los Angeles studio, the future closure of NBA All-World (published just half a year ago) and the cancellation of the Marvel World of Heroes project.
In a message sent to the workers, and which was later made public, the founder of Niantic, John Hanke, explained that Pokémon GO continues to be lucrative, with which its continuity is assured. In fact, the game will now be considered “the highest priority” for the company.
According to Hanke, the reasons for the layoffs and cancellations are the decline in spending following the COVID pandemic and increased competition in the augmented reality gaming market, as well as “responsibility for our own performance.”
Regarding the latter, the manager added that now mobile games require “dazzling quality and innovation”, with teams that “build with the best quality with powerful engagement features, quickly and efficiently”.
“Our AR roadmap and platform must deliver the features developers want in a robust and reliable way. We haven’t met our goals in these areas.”
At the moment the only games affected will be NBA All-World, which will close soon, and the cessation of development of Marvel World of Heroes. The rest of Niantic’s titles, including Pikmin Bloom, Peridot, and Monster Hunter Now (scheduled for a September release) will go ahead.
Niantic already laid off 80 employees last year, about 8 percent of its total workforce. The main problem for the company is that it has not managed to replicate the enormous success of Pokémon GO with other proposals, leaving ideas for Transformers or Settlers of Catan games along the way, as well as other titles that were not officially announced. Wizards Unite, the Harry Potter game, did not do well either and closed at the beginning of 2021, after two and a half years active.
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2023-06-30 08:48:29
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