There was recently an update in Pokémon GO that was anything but well received by the community. The studio that developed this now has to lay people off. Is there a connection here?
What update is this about? A major update with four features was recently announced for Pokémon GO. This is primarily about graphical adjustments and improvements in the game.
One of these features is the avatar update, which came to the game on April 17th. The update was so poorly received by the community that it was sometimes dubbed the worst update in the history of updates.
Now there are reports that the studio responsible for the update is having to lay off people.
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Long-term employees laid off
What kind of studio is it? The studio, which now has to lay off employees, is called Very Very Spaceship, or VVS for short. They developed and contributed features to Pokémon GO. This also applies to the new avatar system, which was activated in Pokémon GO in April.
Now there are reports, including on gamedeveloper.com, that the studio is laying off people. This involves an undisclosed number of employees from the areas of production, recruitment and artists. The employees had all been employed at VVS for between three and five years.
Are the layoffs related to the update? It is not known whether the layoffs are directly related to the avatar update in Pokémon GO. Even if the temporal context allows this assumption, there is no concrete evidence or statements from those responsible.
What does the community say about this? The community blames less the studio for the avatar update and more blames Niantic itself. Here are some of the comments:
What do you say to that? Do you think the layoffs are related to the update? Feel free to write us your thoughts in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers here.
Do you want to know what’s coming to Pokémon GO? Then take a look at our overview of the events in May 2024 in Pokémon GO.