Pokémon Go Dev Niantic Cancels Several Projects & Lays Off Staff

How the mighty have fallen. It looks like things aren’t looking good for Pokémon Go developer Niantic. According to a Bloomberg report, Niantic CEO John Hanke informed the company that 8 percent of the staff was being laid off, around 85 to 90 people, and have cancelled four projects.

One of those projects was Transformers Heavy Metal. Another was a collaboration between Niantic and Punchdrunk, the New York-based company behind theatre production Sleep No More. Two additional projects canceled were reportedly codenamed Blue Sky and Snowball.

Niantic was founded 2010, and was originally best known for its location-based community game Ingress. However, they went bing when Pokémon Go launched in 2016, which have since garnered a whopping US$6 billion in lifetime revenue. Their other games post-Pokémon Go, like Harry Potter Wizards Unite and Pikmin Bloom have pretty much flopped.

Speaking to Bloomberg, a Niantic representative said:

“We recently decided to stop production on some projects and reduce our workforce by about 8% to focus on our key priorities. We are grateful for the contributions of those leaving Niantic and we are supporting them through this difficult transition.”

It seems like Pokémon Go really was a one-hit wonder and lightning in a bottle, considering that no other GPS location-based AR game has ever been as successful.