Scopely has told us that it will not be making any workforce reductions at its newly-owned Niantic game teams.
As you may have read across the games media in the last day or two, Niantic made 68 layoffs following the sale of its game business to Scopely for $3.5bn in March. But those layoffs were at Niantic Spatial, the spun-out, non-gaming entity focused on AR tech. Those layoffs were also already previously announced in a blog published on March 20, written by Niantic boss John Hanke.
None of the game teams making Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom or Monster Hunter Go, or those working on companion services Campfire and Wayfarer, were affected as they are now owned by Scopely.
A Scopely spokesperson told us today: “Scopely will not be making any workforce reductions as part of our acquisition of Niantic’s games business. We are excited to welcome every employee from Niantic’s games business to our team of more than 2,300 Scopeleans worldwide. Any personnel decisions made by Niantic Spatial are independent of Scopely.”
Scopely acquired Niantic’s games arm for $3.5bn in March. The deal includes flagship game Pokémon Go, plus Capcom collab Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom, a game made in partnership with Nintendo.
Scopely acquired all of Niantic’s game teams, including companion apps and services Campfire and Wayfarer, and confirmed at the time that those teams will continue to be led by longtime studio leaders Kei Kawai and Ed Wu.
Scopely co-CEOs Javier Ferreira and Walter Driver said at the time: “Players can expect that these games, apps, and events will stay true to the experiences they know and love and remain driven by the same dedicated development teams behind these beloved products.”
“Scopely’s role post-closing will be to empower the Niantic game team to pursue their ambitious roadmap by providing resources and support, all in service of giving players more of what they want from their favorite games.”
