John Hanke: Last News

Monster Hunter Now, a mobile spin-off of the Capcom series, will be launching worldwide in September. Pre-registration is live now for iOS and Android devices with rewards once a certain number of sign-ups is surpassed.As an augmented reality (AR) game, Monster Hunter Now is comparable to Pokémon Go, and is in fact developed by Niantic too.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Mobile gaming giant Scopely is set to acquire the games division of Niantic, the software developer behind “Pokémon Go,” “Pikmin Bloom” and “Monster Hunter Now,” in a deal valued at $3.5 billion. Under the terms of the sale, which is subject to regulatory approvals, Niantic’s game teams will continue to be overseen by studio leaders Kei Kawai and Ed Wu as they join a workforce of more than 2,300 Scopely employees.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Augmented-reality games pioneer Niantic Labs is laying off 230 employees, about 25% of its workforce, and shutting down its Los Angeles studio as it refocuses on flagship title Pokémon Go. CEO John Hanke announced the cuts in a memo to staff Thursday, saying “we have allowed our expenses to grow faster than revenue” after the sales boom it saw during the COVID pandemic subsequently evaporated. As part of the reorg, Ninatic is “sunsetting” NBA All-World and stopping production on Marvel: World of Heroes games. “Post Covid, our revenue returned to pre-Covid levels and new projects in games and platform have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments,” Hanke said in the memo, which Niantic released publicly.

Pokémon Go became a global sensation, with players collectively walking 8.7 million kilometres in its first year alone. Niantic, the company behind the mobile game, has since struggled to find another game as successful, and has now made the decision to cancel four projects which will cut around 85 to 90 jobs.Niantic Chief Executive Officer John Hanke reportedly wrote in an email to staff (via, Bloomberg) that the company was “facing a time of economic turmoil” and that it was already “reducing costs in a variety of areas”.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNiantic, the augmented-reality games company behind “Pokémon Go,” is letting go about 8% of its workforce and has scrapped several game titles it had in development, including “Transformers: Heavy Metal.”The company is laying off 85-90 employees, Niantic CEO John Hanke said in a memo to staff Wednesday, which was first reported by Bloomberg. Niantic needs to “further streamline our operations in order to best position the company to weather any economic storms that may lie ahead,” Hanke wrote.In a statement, a Niantic spokesperson said, “We recently decided to stop production on some projects and reduce our workforce by about 8% to focus on our key priorities.