Niantic Cancels Two AR Games and Fires 230 Employees

After Pokémon GO’s success, Niantic launched several other AR-based mobile games. Unfortunately, post-pandemic Niantic is cutting two games and 230 employees as part of its LA studio closure.

Niantic CEO John Hanke told employees and fans that the company had decided to “narrow” its mobile game investments. NBA All-World will end and Marvel: World of Heroes will stop production.

“We have allowed our expenses to grow faster than revenue. In the wake of the revenue surge we saw during Covid, we grew our headcount and related expenses in order to pursue growth more aggressively, expanding existing game teams, our AR platform work, new game projects and roles that support our products and our employees. Post Covid, our revenue returned to pre-Covid levels and new projects in games and platform have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments. This change will bring expenses and revenue back into line while preserving our core assets and long term upside.”

Fortunately, Niantic’s “top priority” is Pokémon GO, which is growing “as a forever game”. Nintendo fans can also rejoice that Niantic seems committed to Pikmin Bloom. Monster Hunter Now, based on the popular Capcom IP, will also continue.

Although Pokémon GO is financially healthy, the game’s community has been frustrated in recent months after Niantic increased Remote Raid Pass prices and limited the number of raids players can participate in per day.