Sadly, even with the biggest of names backing an upcoming video game project, it doesn't always guarantee success.
As reported by NME, one such game is Marvel World of Heroes from Pokémon Go developer, Niantic, Inc which has been outright cancelled following the closure of its Los Angeles-based studio. What’s more, another of its games, NBA All-World is also being cancelled which was only released in January this year.
Sadly, the worst part of this story is not the projects being cancelled, but the 230 staff that will be laid off from employment. The devastating news was revealed when an email was sent to employees by Niantic, Inc CEO, John Hanke, before it was made public.
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Hanke explained that the cuts were made due to the “tough market environment due to the overall global macroeconomic slowdown, as well as unique challenges in the mobile gaming and AR markets.”
“In the years since Pokémon Go’s launch, the mobile market has become crowded and changes to the app store and the mobile advertising landscape have made it increasingly hard to launch new mobile games at scale,” said the CEO.
“We also face an AR market that is developing more slowly than anticipated, because of technology challenges and because larger players are slowing down their investments in light of the macro environment.”
Hanke went on to say that the company will now focus on releasing fewer higher-quality games with the continued support of Pokemon Go being a priority.
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It seems that Niantic, Inc certainly captured lightning in a bottle with Pokemon Go, and has seemingly struggled to repeat the same level of success with other projects. Not only with the aforementioned Marvel game or NBA All-World but even its Harry Potter game Wizards Unite was doomed to fail with it ceasing to exist in November 2021 having only launched on mobile in 2019.
Despite the developer's recent shortcomings, John Hanke still has high hopes in regard to the “prospects for Pikmin Bloom, Peridot and Monster Hunter Now,” adding “but we have a lot of work to do.”
Hopefully, the staff impacted by the layoffs will find new employment soon.
Featured Image Credit: Marvel/DisneyTopics: Marvel, Disney, Mobile Games