Products You May Like
Things are not going well for Niantic, who are the developers of the Pokemon mobile game Pokemon GO. The company recently received a lot of criticism for changes made to Pokemon GO, such as remote raids being significantly diminished, and Niantic has not changed course with it at all. However, that’s not all. Pokemon GO had its lowest monthly sum in 5 years back in April.
Unfortunately, their woes are not just limited to Pokemon GO. It has been confirmed that Niantic will be closing their Los Angeles studio and laying off 230 employees. NBA All-World is being closed, and they’re cancelling Marvel: World of Heroes. According to an internal email from founder John Hanke, the 3 reasons for this is because “expenses grew faster than revenue”,the AR market is much larger now since Pokemon GO released, and he notes a broader lack of long-term engagement for the company’s projects.
As for how this will impact Pokemon GO, Hanke says in the email that they will continue to make the game a top priority, in an effort to keep it “healthy and growing as a forever game” in the long term. Meanwhile, Pikmin Bloom, Peridot, and Monster Hunter Now will continue to see development, but Hanke says that they have “a lot of work to do” maintaining retention, revenue, and profitability.