Niantic has announced that it is closing down its Los Angeles studio and sunsetting one of its games, and cancelling another. As noted in an email from CEO John Hawke, the developer, known for its augmented reality titles, is looking to set itself up for the future, and is therefore narrowing its focus on mobile gaming and concentrating more on first-party titles.
As part of this decision, all 230 employees who made up Niantic LA are being laid off, and the titles that the developer helmed from that studio are being wrapped. This means that NBA All-World is being sunset, and Marvel: World of Heroes is being cancelled in the middle of its development.
As for why this decision is coming about, Hawke notes, "we have allowed our expenses to grow faster than revenue. In the wake of the revenue surge we saw during Covid, we grew our headcount and related expenses in order to pursue growth more aggressively, expanding existing game teams, our AR platform work, new game projects and roles that support our products and our employees. Post Covid, our revenue returned to pre-Covid levels and new projects in games and platform have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments."
Niantic is adjusting to the future by ensuring that Pokémon Go is still healthy and growing as a "forever game". The developer will continue to invest in this title going forward. Otherwise, it has noted that it is confident in the prospects for Pikmin Bloom, Peridot, and Monster Hunter World. There will also be continued investment in the AR platform, and we can expect to see Niantic further exploring the MR scene (used in systems like Meta Quest Pro and Apple Vision Pro) going forward.
Hawke signed off with, "we remain committed to building products and technology with a purpose, that leave the world better off than it was before, that serve both our needs as a company and the needs of our community of developers and Niantic Explorers in a way that is healthy and positive."