Pokémon GO Dev Niantic Axes Four Projects, Cuts 8% Of Workforce

Pokémon GO AND DON'T COME BACK?

Didn’t they just release the next hit NBA game?

I'm still playing Go, but I played it without spending until after the pandemic started. I got back into it and regularly bought remote raid passes, and then started doing the paid events.
Go Fest this year was underwhelming, and the moves to deter players using remote raid passes and other measures that allowed people to play during the pandemic are really putting me off. Particularly given covid is still rampant in the community.
I haven't spent any money since go fest, I don't even think I've done a free raid actually. My point being - if they're trying to recoup losses from other games in Go, nerfing the things that made some players interested in spending money in it may not work. But I'm sure they have their reasons to think it will increase profits.

I haven't played Pokémon GO since 2018 or 2019. Probably just didn't interest me anymore. I may eventually go back into it, since everything is back open around here. But I don't know yet.

Events and in-game quality of life has gone downhill since mid-2021. I'm still in it to get the remaining Mega Evolutions and Kecleon

I have a lot of catching up (no pun intended) to do now that my phone is no longer compatible with the game. Grr...

I wish the pikmin game was more addictive but I got bored quick

❗️I can't leave the house without putting PoGo on.

They gave up that promising looking Transformers game for an NBA title which has no appeal outside America?

They could have added all sorts of cool features to TFHM. Imagine having to scan ITL cars and then watching them transform in AR before your eyes!

They are just a one trick pony at this point.

Pokemon GO was great and it fitted with the mechanics with catching and evolving Pokemon, Pokemon gym battles, etc.

Harry Potter game was a borefest and never evolved into something better.

Same again with Pikmin. It was fun for a few days and then it became stale and utterly boring real quick. So much more they could have done with this game.
It's just lazy and unimaginative.

So what's happened to the billions they've earnt off pokemon go

Frankly, they should just face it: they hit a perfect storm with "Pokemon GO", and will probably never get even close to that ever again.

Ouch, getting an email about "reducing the work force" that is cold.
Well, at least they were told about people leaving, unlike my work nowadays.

I would imagine all Live Service/Micro Transaction/Free To Play games are under the same customer scrutiny as TV streaming services. Customers don't want uncertain costs each month from a mobile game. I would think the very popular ones like Pokemon Go will survive and the market will be much leaner.

Or in other words they have used their micro transactions to rinse as much money out of the public and in order to continue the illusion of economic growth are now ditching the staff that helped them make the millions in the first place just to keep the shareholders happy. They all repeat this same cycle over and over again.

@RadioHedgeFund People definitely follow NBA outside of America.

Pokémon Go took 1.2 billion last year and the company is worth 9 billion yet they laying people off? Ok.

@ROBLOGNICK I honestly can't fathom how much financial mismanagement you'd need to squander 1 billion a year. My best guess is they're profitable, but laying off extra workers means more profit and more money for shareholders

Always about the bottom line isn't it? They could get rid of less executives to save some cash but no let's go for the employees who keep the whole ship afloat.

@RadioHedgeFund NBA is the one major American sports league that is actually big and influential outside of North America. Specifically, and most importantly to companies trying to make money off of it, it’s a big deal in China.

This is literally the first I've heard that the Harry Potter and Pikmin games came out lol. Marketing for both has been non existent

Still a daily player. I enjoy getting out for walks and exploring new parts of my city and I especially like playing it when I go away from home. There have been lots of great events recently, paid and free. I feel bad for the people that are losing jobs, hope they land on their feet somewhere.

I still play Pikmin Bloom, but I recognize it's days are numbered. Not only does it not seem to have a very big install base (Relatively speaking), there's literally no reason to spend money on it. I always have more nectar than I need, and as a result plenty of flower petals, so there's no reason to ever buy any of those. There's no reason to grow more than one or two Pikmin at a time so no reason to buy the additional planters. Even the storage expansions are useless due to how easy it is to get nectar. When it's maxed out, I don't really feel like extra nectar I collect that gets thrown away is really much of a waste. And when I eventually max out my Pikmin storage, I'll just throw out any Pikmin that don't have unique decor, because there's really no incentive to keep them around.

So yeah, I enjoy it as something extra to do while I go on walks, and it encourages me to take different routes through my neighborhood as I try to cover it in as many flowers as possible, which is a feature I really like. I can't imagine it's making much revenue at all though, so I'm going to try to make the most of it while it's active.

Billions of dollars of revenue do not equal economic turmoil.

It looks like their upcoming Nintendo game is still in development, then. I'm excited to learn what IP it's going to be based off of.

When is Niantic going to fix the mix up with Mega Charizard X & Y's cries? I have a feeling that there needs to be a lot attention brought to it in order to remedy this(annoying yet minor)issue.

@Wilforce hit might be a streach and it technically hasn't released yet but it is ready to be launched yes. Also peridot. also lightship+vps+webAR. Also Campfire.

Niantic will be ok

@RadioHedgeFund while it is possible to ritoscope objects out of an AR scene in real time it wouldn't really be worth it on the game engine... also asking players to hunt down makes and models that corelate with characters would be bad game design... But you could never render a unique animation for EVERY vehicle a player might come across

Also, also, Hasbro does have a tendancy to make contracts for transformers games and then just leave them by the wayside to rot. In more profitable times maybe... But i think niantic made the right call.

@UltimateOtaku91 investing in other products, aquisitions and develper initiatives mostly... Lightship, Campfire, 8th wall.... And supposedly working on hardware for glasses too. They have a pretty diverse portfolio in AR to be honest.

@MysticX i mean... I don't think.niantic expects to make annother pokemon go. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't invest in new products...

Imagine if 6 years after Donkey Kong people were still rolling their eyes at everything Nintendo released. "They should just give up, they'll probably never get anywhere close to that ever again"

@Jevarel first off niantic is a privately traded conpany, they don't need to "make the shareholders happy"

second, they if you haven't noticed, an 8% decreace staff is actually rather optemistic given the current economic trends and especially compared compared to other, more "sucessfull" tech companies.

Third Niantic has two products ready for launch and their developer platform is starting to reach maturity. This is actually a convienient time for them to undergo a restructuring and otherwise the least essential employees on those projects would have been moved elswhere anyways (most likely to lowest-priority projects)

In balance, I have to say niantic made the right call. If anything expect the teams for the cancelled projects to get moved into the teams supporting proven products like GO and Lightship.

@TvSonicSerbia ye, I heard kim jong-un is a big fan. (Dead serious)

@Dilly-Mick Absolutely a stretch. The last hit NBA game was Jam on the SNES.

Pokémon Go Lose Money