Niantic layoffs 230 people, NBA and Marvel game cancel

The Elf treasure can dream GO of developer Niantic will close its Los Angeles Studio, and downsizing 230 people, and cancel the NBA and Marvel AR game.

In an "organizational update" this week, Niantic CEO John Hanke said he had decided to "narrow the scope of our mobile gaming investments." He said that the current mobile game market is "very mature", and only "the best and most differentiated games have a chance to succeed." As a result, Niantic is closing its Los Angeles studio, cutting 230 jobs, and ceasing production of Marvel: World of Heroes. The "NBA World", which was just released in January last year, will be discontinued, but no specific timetable has been provided.

Hanke explained his rationale, citing a "difficult market environment" caused by a "global macroeconomic slowdown and unique challenges in the mobile gaming and AR markets." He also wrote that Niantic allowed "spending to grow faster than revenue" after profits surged during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hanke重申了Niantic对AR的承诺，但他也讨论到增加对“正在崛起的MR设备和未来AR眼镜的构建”的关注。他表示，Meta Quest Pro和即将推出的Apple VisionPro通过视频穿透验证了AR的长期重要性，但他称它们只是“真正户外AR设备的中间跳板。”

As for future projects, Hanke listed Pokémon GO, which remains one of the highest-grossing titles on the App Store, as a top priority for the company. He is cautiously optimistic about the prospects of Pikmin Bloom, Obsidian, and the upcoming Monster Hunter Now, and continues to invest in their AR platforms. Having said that, there will be fewer new game releases going forward.