Niantic cuts staff and cancels games, prioritizing Pokémon Go

Niantic, the maker of Pokémon GO, has laid off 230 employees and canceled projects including NBA All-World and a Marvel game. The layoffs come as Niantic seeks to right-size its teams after overhiring during the pandemic, as revenue has returned to pre-pandemic levels and new projects have not met expectations. One such project, the mobile game Peridot, has only made $1.4 million in gross in-app purchase revenue. Niantic's in-app purchase system has also faced criticism, with players boycotting Pokémon GO after the price increase of remote raid passes. Despite these challenges, Niantic plans to focus on building for mixed-reality devices and AR glasses through its developer tools.