Niantic recently announced major layoffs within the developer of popular AR mobile games like Pokemon GO. The Pokemon-catching app has been receiving a number of complaints directed towards Niantic concerning its current state.
Pokemon GO has 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 updates Pokemon GO has 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 until Niantic 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.
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 on the brand new app Marvel: 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 keeping Pokemon GO alive. Niantic CEO John Hanke writes, "The top priority is to keep Pokemon GO healthy and growing as a forever game. While we made some adjustments to the Pokemon GO team, our investment in the product and team continues to grow."
NBA All World and Marvel: World of Heroes may not be particularly hefty losses for most. NBA All World has only just over a half-million downloads and 3.9 stars on the Google Play store. In contrast with the official NBA 2K mobile 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 Heroes never 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 on Pokemon GO will allow Niantic to win back the favor of a currently alienated fanbase.
Source: Niantic