Niantic lays off eight percent of staff, cancels some upcoming games
Niantic, the developer behind Pokémon Go, is laying off staff members and cancelling four in-development projects. According to an e-mail sent to employees from CEO John Hanke (obtained by Bloomberg News games reporter Jason Schreier), the company is "facing a time of economic turmoil" and is working to "streamline our operations in order to best position the company to weather any economic storms that may lie ahead."
Cutting eight percent of Niantic's staff means that about 85 to 90 employees will lose their jobs. Two of the cancelled games include publicly announced titles like Transformers Heavy Metal, a Transformers-themed game that the company announced last year, and Hamlet, a collaboration with the theatrical company behind interactive play Sleep No More.
Two unannounced projects called Blue Sky and Snowball were also axed.
A Niantic spokesperson confirmed the layoffs in a statement to Bloomberg News, saying that the company took these steps to "focus on key priorities."
"We are grateful for the contributions of those leaving Niantic and we are supporting them through this difficult transition," the spokesperson added.
Since 2016, Niantic has levied the explosive success of Pokémon Go to position itself as a leader in augmented reality and real-world games. It's launched (and sunsetted) a Harry Potter game, expanded its partnership with Nintendo with the game Pikmin Bloom, and just recently announced new games like Peridot and NBA All-World.
The company has also spent the last few years on an acquisition spree, adding companies like NZXR and SpotX Games to its roster. It's also released tools for other developers to get in on the real-world game phenomenon, and even launched its own developer conference for
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