Niantic, the company that named itself after a whaling vessel abandoned for the goldrush, admitted yesterday that it is shuttering four more gaming projects, leading to 85-90 people being laid off. While three of the projects seemed barely formed, one of them is apparently the MMOARG Transformers: Heavy Metal, though the official site has yet to make this announcement. This comes after Niantic previously announced its newest pet-raising game Peridot and a new NBA game.
As we’ve chronicled, many of Niantic’s projects have previously failed to launch or stay afloat aside from Ingress and Pokemon GO. Even the new Pikmin Bloom isn’t looking stable. Pokemon Go remains the company’s lone claim to fame, and it has traditionally brought in significant income. But Pokemon GO’s financials have dipped in 2022 compared to 2021, partly owing to gameplay nerfs, unpopular design pivots, and blowback from poor security and abusive monetization.
Here’s hoping that the laid-off workers who helped keep this ship afloat quickly find new jobs.
