Pokemon Go Dev Cancels Marvel Game, Lays Off 230 People
Pokemon Go developer Niantic has become the latest major game studio to announce serious layoffs and other significant changes. The company's boss, John Hanke, notified staffers of a drastic change to the company's organization and outlook that includes layoffs, a studio closure, and game cancellations.
Niantic is closing its Los Angeles studio and making cuts to the company's headcount at other offices. Additionally, NBA All-World is going offline and the upcoming game Marvel: World of Heroes is now canceled. In total, Niantic is cutting about 230 jobs.
In an email from Hanke shared on Niantic's website, the executive wrote that the «difficult changes» are needed to help the company «weather the current challenges in the market and take advantage of the long term opportunity in front of us.»
Going forward, Niantic will narrow its focus and concentrate on first-party titles that «most strongly embody» the company's core values.
«The mobile gaming market is very mature and only the best and most differentiated titles have a chance to succeed. We also want to increase our focus on building for the emerging class of MR devices and future AR glasses,» he said, referring to mixed-reality and augmented-reality.
Hanke said these changes are the result of Niantic spending more than it is earning back in revenue. Like other companies, Niantic saw a surge in revenue during Covid, and the company staffed up and spent more to «pursue growth more aggressively.» But now, Hanke said revenue at Niantic has returned to pre-Covid levels and the new games that the company launched «have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments.»
The changes announced today will «bring expenses and revenue back into line while preserving
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