Niantic Lays Off 230 Employees, Stops Development For Some Games To Focus On Pokémon GO – News18

Niantic, the developer of the hugely popular mobile game Pokémon GO, is undergoing organizational changes—including laying off 230 employees and halting development for some games. The company is focusing on Pokémon GO and “long-term opportunities.”

Niantic CEO, John Hanke admitted that the company’s expenses grew faster than its revenue, and due to the “revenue surge” during COVID-19 pandemic—the company’s headcount and related expenses increased; Niantic expanded existing game teams and “aggressively” chased growth.

But—post the pandemic—Hanke notes, “revenue returned to pre-Covid levels and new projects in games and platform have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments.” 

Now, the company claims that its priorities lie in keeping Pokémon GO growing as a “forever game.” Niantic’s investment in the product and team has continued to grow as well. As per Sensor Tower, Pokémon GO—on average—minted approximately $1 billion per year since its launch in July 2016.

Alongside the round of layoffs, the company is also sunsetting NBA All-World and stopping development for Marvel: World of Heroes. “We are reducing and focusing our platform team in line with the reduced number of games we are building, with the goal to do less, better,” Hanke added.

Further, John Hanke said that the company continues to believe in augmented reality (AR), and now, mixed reality (MR) as well. He notes that the recent surge of the concept with devices, such as the Meta Quest Pro and Apple Vision Pro “validates the long-term importance of AR.”