Niantic, the mobile game developer behind Pokemon GO, has announced that they plan to lay off 230 employees and cancel development on Marvel: World of Heroes,
- Niantic announced Marvel: World of Heroes at the D23 Expo last year.
- The game was planned to allow you to create your own Super Hero identity and team-up with your favorite Marvel characters in the real world and was set to launch this year.
- Today though, Niantic announced that they would be closing their LA studio, reducing their game platform team and making additional reductions across the company.
- Niantic CEO John Hanke released a memo sharing the news today:
- “I have made the decision to narrow our focus for mobile game investments, concentrating on first party games that most strongly embody our core values of location and local social communities. The mobile gaming market is very mature and only the best and most differentiated titles have a chance to succeed. We also want to increase our focus on building for the emerging class of MR devices and future AR glasses.”
- You can read Hanke’s full memo here.
- In addition to the cancelation of Marvel: World of Heroes, Niantic will be canceling NBA All-World and laying off 230 employees.
- The memo goes on to say “The top priority is to keep Pokémon GO healthy and growing as a forever game.”