New York CNN —Niantic, the creator of hit mobile game Pokemon Go, announced it is laying off 230 employees and reorganizing its business as it grapples with new macroeconomic uncertainty.
In a letter to staff announcing the job cuts, Niantic CEO John Hanke said the company is taking other significant actions as well: shuttering its Los Angeles studio, sunsetting its NBA All-World game and halting production on Marvel: World of Heroes.
The privately held company’s breakout hit, Pokemon Go, was among the first mobile games to embrace augmented reality when it launched in 2016.
“In the wake of the revenue surge we saw during Covid, we grew our headcount and related expenses in order to pursue growth more aggressively, expanding existing game teams, our AR platform work, new game projects and roles that support our products and our employees,” Hanke wrote.
Eventually, however, “our revenue returned to pre-Covid levels and new projects in games and platform have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments,” he added.
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