The CEO of Niantic Labs, John Hanke, has revealed many facts that have raised suspicions about the future that awaits the company.
After the success of Niantic Labs in 2016, the future of the company looked incredible. Pokémon GO was a total revolution in the video game industry. Above all, it was one of the forerunners of globally successful games on mobile devices.
But after failed projects, and games that didn’t quite work, Niantic’s success seems to have stopped. Although it may not seem so if you’re active in Pokémon GO, the studio’s situation is very critical – so critical that they have reached the point of having to cut more than 80 jobs.
Niantic Labs is going through a difficult financial situation
According to a report from Bloomberg, the San Francisco-based company is experiencing economic turbulence. Despite having hits like Pokémon GO and Pikmin Bloom to its credit, the company’s economic situation is much worse than previously thought. Because of this, it has been reported that the company has cut up to 90 jobs.
The CEO of Niantic, John Hanke, has affirmed this information. In addition, he has confirmed that multiple projects were canceled due to these economic problems. Among these projects, it may be Transformers: Heavy Metal. It was a project that last year was on everyone’s lips as the next Pokémon GO.
“We recently decided to stop production on some projects and reduce our workforce by about eight percent to focus on our key priorities,” said Hanke in a statement sent to Kotaku. “We are grateful for the contributions of those leaving Niantic, and we are supporting them through this difficult transition.”
Despite all this, the company recently launched a new project called NBA All-World. But after seeing these actions taken by the company, it creates a lot of suspicions. One might even think that this new NBA game is a desperate decision to raise a little more capital.
It is a matter of time to know what happens in the future with Niantic. But without a doubt, it hurts to see a great developer and its employees go through these problems.
