Pokémon GO: Between layoffs and game cancellations, Niantic in turmoil?
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Paulina
But what is happening within the studio giant Niantic? At the head, among other things, of the successful mobile game Pokémon GO, it would seem, despite appearances, that all is not so rosy in the company… Indeed, several employees had to say goodbye…
Unfortunately, usually in large companies, not everything goes as it should, and while Pokémon GO mobile players are about to discover the next event that will take place in the capital of Germany, here is that Niantic’s studio is in dire straits and has been forced to lay off no less than 8% of its employees…
Niantic in turmoil cancels 4 projects and lays off employees
As we told you, not everything is rosy in large companies, and Niantic will be able to attest to this adage more than ever. According to a report published by Bloombergwe learn that the Niantic CEOto know John Hankesent an internal email to its employees in which the latter announces that the company is currently facing a difficult period with “economic turbulence“. For this, and in order to deal with this problem, the CEO has therefore announced that he will have to take measures and subsequently stated that he will have to reduce costs in different areas.
This may seem quite surprising when we know the success that its flagship game Pokémon GO has had since 2016. Nevertheless, the studio has faced a few flops, including the shutdown of Harry Potter Wizards Unite, or even Pikmin Bloom trying somehow to get its head above water.
Also according to Bloomberg, one of the company’s spokespersons made some confessions, announcing that the company has decided to part ways with some employees but also to stop the production of four projects. Among the shutdown of these 4 projects, we unfortunately find the Transformers game as well as the one in collaboration with Punchdrunk.
In addition, as announced by the studio’s spokesperson, Niantic will lay off 8% of its employees, which represents approximately 85 to 90 employees. A question then arises: what will happen to the studio? We can think not without difficulty that the latter will focus more on its successful title Pokémon GO, a mobile game which, we remind you, will host Pokémon GO Fest 2022 from July 1st.