Read from CBR:
Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, is firing dozens of employees and canceling several high-profile projects amid struggles to maintain relevance.
As reported by Bloomberg, Niantic recently announced to staff members that four of its upcoming games would be canceled, and between 85 and 90 jobs would be cut. The news comes amid what Niantic CEO John Hanke describes as "a time of economic turmoil" for the company, best known for its licensed AR games.
Niantic saw some success with its first title, 2013's Ingress, a location-based game that saw players capturing bases in an effort to unravel a global conspiracy, but it wasn't until 2016 that the studio would truly establish itself with Pokémon Go, a wildly successful mobile game that applied Pokémon aesthetics to the mechanical foundations which Ingress established. Since then, the studio has struggled to regain that success -- although Pokémon Go has continued to bring in impressive revenue in the six years since its launch, Niantic's newer games have largely failed to generate the same audience.
In the wake of these failures, Niantic has decided to shelve several projects. The studio is no longer going forward with Hamlet, a digital adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most beloved plays produced in association with Punchdrunk, the theatre company behind the legendary immersive theater experience Sleep No More. Niantic is also giving up on Transformers: Heavy Metal, an AR game based on the Transformers series. Details are sparse on the other two projects canceled by Niantic, titled Blue Sky and Snowball.
Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, is firing dozens of employees and canceling several high-profile projects amid struggles to maintain relevance.
As reported by Bloomberg, Niantic recently announced to staff members that four of its upcoming games would be canceled, and between 85 and 90 jobs would be cut. The news comes amid what Niantic CEO John Hanke describes as "a time of economic turmoil" for the company, best known for its licensed AR games.
Niantic saw some success with its first title, 2013's Ingress, a location-based game that saw players capturing bases in an effort to unravel a global conspiracy, but it wasn't until 2016 that the studio would truly establish itself with Pokémon Go, a wildly successful mobile game that applied Pokémon aesthetics to the mechanical foundations which Ingress established. Since then, the studio has struggled to regain that success -- although Pokémon Go has continued to bring in impressive revenue in the six years since its launch, Niantic's newer games have largely failed to generate the same audience.
In the wake of these failures, Niantic has decided to shelve several projects. The studio is no longer going forward with Hamlet, a digital adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most beloved plays produced in association with Punchdrunk, the theatre company behind the legendary immersive theater experience Sleep No More. Niantic is also giving up on Transformers: Heavy Metal, an AR game based on the Transformers series. Details are sparse on the other two projects canceled by Niantic, titled Blue Sky and Snowball.
