Nianticrecently announced major layoffs within the developer of popular AR mobile games likePokemon GO. The Pokemon-catching app has been receiving a number of complaints directed towardsNianticconcerning its current state.
Pokemon GOhas been in a controversial state recently. The community isn’t particularly happy with what they consider a stagnation in terms of major changes to the game in recent years, and the updatesPokemon GOhas received have been fairly controversial. The latest update to the game doubling the spawn radius for Pokemon around the player was met with high praise untilNiantic immediately issued a retraction and removed it. Now, Niantic has made another big announcement that could be good, or a bad omen of an ill developer depending on the perspective of the observer.
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A recent press release from Niantic reveals major changes in the organization of the mobile game development studio moving forward. The San Francisco-based development company is unfortunately laying off more than 200 employees. The studio will be sunsetting one of its more recent titles,NBA All World, as well as ceasing production onthe brand new appMarvel: World of Heroes, which hadn’t even left its beta prior to this announcement of its shutdown. Many of the employees who were working on those titles are presumably some of those being removed as the company tightens things up.
The trade-off for Niantic removing two of its major new titles is that the company says it will be focusing more than ever on keepingPokemon GOalive. Niantic CEO John Hanke writes, “The top priority is to keepPokemon GOhealthy and growing as a forever game. While we made some adjustments to thePokemon GOteam, our investment in the product and team continues to grow.”
NBA All WorldandMarvel: World of Heroesmay not be particularly hefty losses for most.NBA All Worldhas only just over a half-million downloadsand 3.9 stars on the Google Play store. In contrast with the officialNBA 2Kmobile game, which has more than 10 million downloads and 4.2 stars, it’s clear which is more favored by sports game fans.Marvel: World of Heroesnever even got a worldwide release, but those who did get to test the game during its regional beta tests had mixed things to say. Hopefully, the narrowed focus onPokemon GOwill allow Niantic to win back the favor of a currently alienated fanbase.
