Things are not going well for Niantic, which is the developer of the Pokemon mobile game Pokemon GO. The company has recently received a lot of criticism for changes made to Pokemon GO, such as significantly reduced remote raids, and Niantic hasn’t changed course on that at all. However, that’s not all. Pokemon GO had its lowest monthly amount in 5 years in April.
Unfortunately, their problems are not limited to Pokemon GO. It has been confirmed that Niantic will close its studio in Los Angeles and lay off 230 employees. NBA All-World closes, and they cancel Marvel: World of Heroes. According to founder John Hanke’s internal email, 3 reasons for this are because “costs have grown faster than revenue,” the AR market is much bigger now since Pokemon GO was released, and he notes a broader lack of long-term commitment to the company’s projects.
As for how this will affect Pokemon GO, Hanke says in an email that they will continue to make the game a top priority, in an effort to keep it “healthy and growing as a game forever” in the long term. Meanwhile, Pikmin Bloom, Peridot and Monster Hunter Now will continue to develop, but Hanke says they have “a lot of work to do” to maintain retention, revenue and profitability.
