Someone thought kids today needed to play one-on-one basketball in an AR simulation instead of on the court. Like a real NBA All-Star, you wandered your neighborhood, searching for sneakers and other gear drops, while playing mini-games against other players at real-world “drop zones” and sneaker shops. Requiring high-precision timing while standing on a busy sidewalk was, in retrospect, not the winning move.

NBA All-World was launched globally on January 24, 2023, representing Niantic’s attempt to prove the “Pokémon GO but with [franchise]” formula still had legs. It did not.

On June 29, 2023, Niantic announced the sunset during a brutal organizational update that also closed the LA studio and laid off approximately 230 employees:

Specifically, this means we will be closing our LA studio, reducing our game platform team and making additional reductions across the company. As a result, we will be sunsetting NBA All-World and stopping production on Marvel: World of Heroes. This means we are laying off around 230 Niantics.

The servers were officially shuttered in September 2023, making the full lifespan of NBA All-World less than eight months. For context, this is shorter than most NBA rookie contracts, and considerably less entertaining.