Niantic Shuts Down LA Studio & Shifting Focus to Pokémon Go

Niantic is making some tough choices and restructuring itself to fit its new operational priorities.

John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, has just sent out a company email detailing the company's plans for the future. And there's good news and bad news.

For starters, Niantic will be shuttering the doors of its Los Angeles office. 230 employees have lost their jobs, and the layoff signifies a 25% staff cut.

Hanke details how after the boom in revenue during the peak days of the COVID pandemic, Niantic began heavily reinvesting their profits into new game projects and strengthening their current development teams. After COVID died down, Niantic's revenues decreased to pre-COVID levels, but their new expenses remained. Their new projects have not brought in the revenue necessary to warrant the additional expenses. As such, Niantic will be trimming down its' game catalog.

Among other titles, NBA All-World will be sunsetting, and Marvel: World of Heroes will cease production. With the mobile market getting fiercer by the day, Niantic feels it best to focus on a select group of games rather than risk spreading itself thin.

Darkness and flames surround you—the Dark Flames event has begun! https://t.co/ZtpoqMG9Wh pic.twitter.com/lT0wc8IuX3

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) June 29, 2023

Hanke revealed that keeping Pokemon Go healthy and growing will be Niantic's top priority. As one of the most successful mobile games of all time, and as of 2022, the most popular mobile game in the United States, this seems like a sound strategy.