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‘Pokémon Go’ creator Niantic cancels four projects and cuts 8 percent of staff

Pokemon Go logo

Niantic, which made PokemonGo, is releasing staff

The firm behind the hugely popular Pokemon Go game has ditched four projects, resulting in up to 90 job losses.

Despite the game's massive success, Niantic has failed to create another game equally profitably and has decided to terminate four projects, resulting in the loss of 85 to 90 jobs.

Niantic Chief Executive Officer John Hanke reportedly wrote in an email to staff that the company was “facing a time of economic turmoil” and that it was already “reducing costs in a variety of areas”.

READ MORE: NETFLIX CUTS 300 JOBS IN SECOND ROUND OF LAYOFFS

Hanke said Niantic needs to “further streamline our operations in order to best position the company to weather any economic storms that may lie ahead.”

Heavy Metal, a Transformers game planned by Niantic for 2021, and Hamlet, a collaboration between Niantic and Punchdrunk, the group behind the acclaimed interactive production Sleep No More, were among the scrapped projects.

It also includes the codenamed projects Blue Sky and Snowball, about which no additional information is known.

Surprisingly, considering the popularity of Pokémon Go, Niantic has failed to replicate that success with its other endeavors.

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Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was shut down earlier this year after only three years on the market in 2019.

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

In other news, an unprecedented amount of confidential game data was leaked online in 2020 and Nintendo has finally responded to the “gigaleak” by stating that it has increased security measures.

What is Niantic?

Founded in 2010 Niantic, Inc is an Augmented Reality and mobile real-world company, building applications with a gaming focus.

Where it is headquartered? Niantic’s headquarters are in San Francisco, California

How many staff does it have? Niantic has 655 employees

What is its annual revenue? Niantic’s revenue is $615 Million

Source: NME

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