Chen San-yuan, a 69-year-old Feng Shui master, captivated audiences when he used 11 cell phones to catch Pokemon in a park in New Taipei City, Taiwan on Aug. 8, 2018. Chen discovered the world of Pokemon Go in 2016, thanks to his grandson who introduced him to the game. The image above shows Chen in action, fully immersed in the augmented reality of Pokemon Go.
June 29 (UPI) — Niantic, the renowned game maker responsible for creating Google Earth, recently made the decision to cancel the production of its highly anticipated NBA and Marvel games. This decision comes as part of a comprehensive restructuring plan that will unfortunately result in 230 employees losing their jobs.
The news was shared with Niantic employees in an email from the company’s CEO, John Hanke. In the email, which was published by the company on Thursday, Hanke attributes this restructuring to the company’s expenses outpacing its revenue growth, despite experiencing a surge in profits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In light of these challenges, I have made the difficult decision to narrow our focus for mobile game investments and concentrate on first-party games that best embody our core values of location and local social communities,” Hanke announced.
Recognizing the maturity of the mobile gaming market, Hanke emphasizes the importance of creating unique and differentiated titles in order to achieve success. Additionally, Niantic aims to shift its focus towards the development of games for mixed-reality devices and future augmented-reality glasses.
As part of this restructuring plan, Niantic will be closing its studio in Los Angeles and discontinuing the development of NBA All-World and Marvel: World of Heroes. Hanke explains that despite a return to pre-COVID revenue levels, the company’s investments in new projects have not yielded the expected financial results.
This strategic shift will align expenses and revenue more effectively while safeguarding Niantic’s core assets and long-term potential for growth. It is worth noting that Niantic has a rich history, starting in 2001 as a team of geospatially obsessed computer scientists who developed Keyhole, a pioneering product that allowed users to explore interactive 3D maps of the Earth. Google later acquired Keyhole in 2004, which eventually became Google Earth.
Building on their expertise in maps and geospatial technologies, the team within Google that would eventually become Niantic worked on various projects like Google Maps, Street View, and SketchUp throughout the 2000s. In 2010, Niantic Labs was established as a startup within Google, focusing on creating mobile games utilizing their mapping expertise. Their first major success came in 2013 with the release of the acclaimed augmented-reality game Ingress.
Following the successful spin-off from Google in 2015, Niantic secured funding from The Pokémon Company Group, Google, and Nintendo, propelling them to new heights. The company’s most notable achievement came with the release of Pokémon Go in 2016, which took the world by storm.
Pokémon Go allowed fans of the beloved franchise to experience the thrill of catching virtual creatures using their mobile devices and GPS technology. By the end of 2016, the game had been downloaded over 500 million times, solidifying its place in pop culture and gaming history.
Amidst the reorganization, Hanke assures employees and fans that the top priority remains ensuring the continued success and growth of Pokémon Go. He also expresses confidence in the prospects of recently launched games like Pikmin Bloom, Peridot, and Monster Hunter Now, acknowledging the need for further work to achieve their goals.
In the face of increased competition within the mobile gaming industry and a global economic slowdown, Niantic is committed to developing key content and platform services to fully realize the potential of augmented reality. Hanke acknowledges the significance of the rise of mixed-reality devices but emphasizes that true outdoor AR devices represent the ultimate future of this technology.
