"Paid 200 Million Won Annually but Facing Closure"... Pok?mon Go Developer Lays Off 230 Employees

Increased Hiring Due to Profit Surge During COVID-19
Profits Return to Normal Post-Endemic... Sequel Performance Also Poor

Niantic, the developer that gained explosive popularity with the augmented reality (AR) game Pok?mon Go, is facing a crisis.

On the 1st, the UK gaming industry media GameIndustry reported that Niantic closed its office in Los Angeles, USA, suspended some of its businesses, and laid off more than 230 employees. Concerns were also raised about the stability of the Pok?mon Go service.

Photo by Pok?mon GO Korea

The 'NBA All World' game, released last January, is also scheduled to end just six months after its launch. Additionally, the 'Marvel World of Heroes' project, which is still under development, will be discontinued.

Niantic had already canceled four projects and laid off about 8% of its staff last year. This is an additional workforce adjustment and cost-cutting measure just over a year after those actions.

It is interpreted that the increased hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting higher payroll burden negatively affected Niantic. The poor performance of Pok?mon Go sequels has also been cited as a cause.

John Hanke, Niantic's CEO, explained in an internal email, "During the COVID pandemic, revenue surged, leading us to increase personnel and management costs for growth. However, as the pandemic ended, our revenue returned to previous levels, and new projects did not generate the expected income."

The average annual salary of Niantic developers is known to be $173,732 (approximately 229 million KRW). Senior developers earn up to $180,000 (approximately 237 million KRW).

The mass layoffs at Niantic have spread anxiety among Pok?mon Go users, raising concerns that there might be issues with the Pok?mon Go service itself. Niantic responded by stating, "Supporting the Pok?mon Go service is our top priority."

CEO John Hanke said, "Our mission to create a better world than before remains unchanged," and added, "Niantic will do its best to build products and technologies that meet user needs."

Niantic is a game development and publishing company headquartered in California, USA. It was established in 2010 as a subsidiary of Google, initially focusing on location-based game development based on Google Geo (the mobile version of Google Earth). Since then, it has distinguished itself in developing proprietary AR technology and games.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.