Pokemon Go maker Niantic to close Los Angeles game studio, cancel NBA and Marvel titles
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Niantic will shut down its NBA All-World game and halt work on the upcoming Marvel World of Heroes.
PHOTOS: NBA ALL-WORLD/FACEBOOK, MARVELWORLDGAME/TWITTER
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NEW YORK - Pokemon Go maker Niantic is closing its Los Angeles game studio and cancelling National Basketball Association (NBA) and Marvel titles in a restructuring aimed at stabilising the company’s finances.
Niantic will also cut 230 jobs, or about 25 per cent of its staff, a spokesman said on Thursday.
“We have allowed our expenses to grow faster than revenue,” chief executive John Hanke wrote in an e-mail to employees. “New projects in games and platform have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments.”
The closely held San Francisco-based metaverse darling will halt work on the upcoming Marvel World of Heroes and shut down its NBA All-World game.
Released in January, NBA All-World received just 354,000 downloads in its first week, according to data compiled by Data.ai.
By comparison, Niantic’s Nintendo collaboration Pikmin Bloom and latest game Peridot received about one million downloads in their first week.
The restructuring will bring expenses and revenue “back in line while preserving our core assets”, Mr Hanke said.
The company remains committed to supporting Pokemon Go, Pikmin Bloom, Peridot, Ingress and the upcoming Monster Hunter Now game, the spokesman said.
In 2022, Niantic cancelled four projects and cut 8 per cent of its staff.
In May, Bloomberg reported that the company had been struggling to produce a hit amid metaverse scepticism. BLOOMBERG
