Niantic lays off more than 80 employees and terminates four Projects

Nivedita Bangari

Jun 30

Niantic, which has been attempting to replicate the massive success of Pokémon Go with new mobile augmented reality games, is reportedly letting go of four projects and firing 8% of its workforce.

"We recently decided to stop production on some projects and reduce our workforce by about eight percent to focus on our key priorities," Niantic VP of communications Jonny Thaw said. "We are grateful for the contributions of those leaving Niantic and we are supporting them through this difficult transition.

Niantic plans to continue investing in AR

"This means we can focus on our most important priorities, including Pokémon Go and a select set of new experiences, as well as the Lightship platform. This increased focus, as well our strong core business, puts us in a position to weather the broader economic uncertainty many companies are facing and continue investing in the future of AR."

Three games, including Blue Sky, Snowball, and the Transformers: Heavy Metal cooperation game by Punchdrunk and Sleep No More developer, are being canceled by Niantic as a result of the changes. A total of 85 to 90 employees are being let go.

Pokémon Go is still highly-liked despite being over six years old, but other augmented reality games haven't fared as well. The augmented reality games Harry Potter and Catan by Niantic have recently been retired, and Minecraft Earth by Microsoft was retired last year. However, Niantic is still producing new games, as shown by the recent announcement of an NBA championship and the soft launch of its charming game Peridot.