The company behind "Pokémon Go" is selling its video game business: What does this mean for the games?
The US company Scopely is taking over Niantic's video games business and with it well-known mobile games such as "Pokémon Go" and "Monster Hunter Now". However, the billion-euro deal has also been criticised.
The game "Pokémon Go" began in the summer of 2016 - and quickly became a huge success. People all over the world collected the virtual monsters in public places. Almost ten years later, there are still around 10 million players every day. Now Niantic is moving its mobile games under the Scopely umbrella.
The new owner Scopely
Niantic has sold its video game business to Scopely for 3.5 billion US dollars. In addition to "PoGo", games such as "Pikmin Bloom" and "Monster Hunter Now" are now also moving in there. Scopely is also a publisher and developer of mobile games. Headquartered in California, the company belongs to the Savvy Games Group and is therefore part of the Saudi Arabian government's Public Investment Fund (PIF). Scopely's umbrella includes, for example, "Monopoly Go", "Marvel Strike Force" and "Scrabble Go".
Source: Scopely
The announcement is not Saudi Arabia's first attempt to get involved in the gaming industry in a big way. Savvy Games Group itself was founded in 2021 with the help of the PIF and acquired Scopely in 2023 for 4.9 billion US dollars. The PIF was also used to acquire shares in Nintendo, Activision Blizzard and EA.
The takeover should not change anything for gamers
The head of Niantic's Pokémon Go team, Ed Wu, expressed his own views on the move and why he believes it makes sense
Wu believes that Scopely is pursuing the same goals and will continue to run the game "Pokémon Go" in the best possible way with the publisher. Scopely can provide additional resources, which will have a positive impact on the game in the long term. The original "Pokémon Go" team will remain together at Scopely. Under their leadership, a lot of new things will continue to come in the future and the tried and tested will remain, such as the "Pokémon Go" festival and other live events.
Niantic will continue its existing partnership with the Pokémon Company. According to Ed Wu, the collaboration is very good and the game will continue to benefit from it.
What happens next
Ed Wu makes it clear in his statement that "Pokémon Go" will not remain as it was. However, it had already changed a lot since 2016, and many game mechanics and content have been added since then, enriching the game. Scopely has made it clear that they support Niantic's vision and wishes.
Niantic itself explains that the company has taken two complementary paths in recent years. One of these is game development, the other is towards the further development of augmented reality, artificial intelligence and geodata technology. The company has incorporated some of these technologies into its games and has probably collected a lot of data as a result. This should also be interesting for Scopely's portfolio.
Source: Niantic
What this means for the future content of the games remains unclear. Some fans fear a negative development. Scopely's mobile games are sometimes known for micro-transactions. It therefore seems reasonable to assume that this mechanic will now also be adopted for Niantic games. However, this would not necessarily be necessary. After all, Niantic's games are doing well financially. Last year alone, revenue totalled over one billion US dollars according to Scopely.
Niantic's games are doing well financially.
Header image: Niantic
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