Niantic Inc. is proud to announce the release of Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now, and Saudi-Owned Maker of Monopoly Go! We have confirmed sales of the development team to. $3.5 billion.
An additional $350 million in cash from Niantic has been distributed as part of the transaction, giving Niantic Equity Holders a total of approximately $3.85 billion.
Scopely, owned by Saudi investment firm Savvy Games, said Niantic Games Business has more than 30 million active players (MAUs) each month, earning more than $1 billion in revenue in 2024.
Niantic said the game team has “an exciting long-term roadmap that will continue to be built as part of the scope.”
“This partnership will require long-term support for our games to become a “eternal game” that will withstand future generations,” Niantic said in a blog post.
“Players can expect that games they know and love and events they love will continue to receive ongoing investment from Scopely, driven by the same team that has always produced these experiences.”
In another blog post, Pokémon Go Chief Ed Wu moved to reassure players who had already expressed concern about the fate of the game if the sale took place.
“We and the whole game team are always important, so what our community is aware and excited about the long-term vision of this game is what we want to share why we believe that our partnership with Scopley is a positive step in the future of the game.”
“Scopely expressed deep praise for this community and our team. Pokémon Go has all the beliefs that will thrive even more as part of Scopely for years and years to come, under the mission of encouraging people to discover Pokemon in the real world and explore people together,” Wu continued.
“Our new partnership means we can maintain this long-term focus, along with our 10-year long partnership with Pokemon Company. Scopely fully believes in our mission and ongoing goals to create the best possible Pokemon GO experience. Their focus is to provide resources to support our team and continue to provide gameplay that you know and love.
“The whole Pokémon Go team is staying together through this partnership. The same people who have guided and built the game for years will continue to do what we love. We are always constantly adding to the game – Raid Battles, Friends, Go Battle League, Route, Dynax/Gigantamax, and of course, Pokemon GoFest and our live events – I look forward to continuing this for many years. Scopely strengthens their gaming team as an autonomous group going after the roadmap inspired by them to pursue, and that each team believes they are the best for the player experience. This approach is very appealing at Niantic Games. We spoke with many game leaders at Scopely. He gave us great confidence in how each game can develop independently and thrive creatively.
“We will be joining a wider organization dedicated to games. I think Pokémon Go will be able to continue thriving with a focus on Scopely’s exclusive and long-term game making. Scopely’s status as a private company means that we can also prioritize what’s best for you as a trainer in the long term. We believe that prioritizing short-term profits at the expense of our long-term mission is counterproductive and self-destructive. All interactions with the scopely leader reinforce the agreement that Pokémon Go’s scale, longevity and, above all, the real world community is truly special. We are united in protecting it.
“With Scopely’s full commitment, experience and resources, we are going to make Pokémon Go the best. At our live events, thousands of trainers will fight incredible ways in new ways that connect with friends and communities. We have invested to strengthen the thousands of community leaders and ambassadors who will guide millions of trainers to play together in the real world. The real world community who loves Pokémon Go remains our guiding light in everything we do.
“Pokémon Company’s partners are at the heart of how we build this game together, starting with the physics of the first Pokéball throws we’ve tuned together. I’m very grateful for their daily wisdom, guidance and the careful stewardship of shared visions of discovering Pokemon in the real world. I’m extremely excited that our partnership with the Pokémon Company will continue as we did in the last decade.
“I’m not saying that Pokémon Go has always been a work in progress, so I’m not saying that it will remain the same, but how we create and evolve it remains the same, and we hope that we can make a better experience for all of you.
“We are grateful for the incredible joy of serving hundreds of millions of trainers in our real-world community over the past nine years.
Elsewhere, Niantic said it is ejecting its controversial geospatial AI business to its new company, Niantic Spatial Inc., “we can accelerate and expand even more quickly.” Scopely is a $50 million investor in this new venture, with as much as $200 million from Niantic itself.
Niantic Spatial will continue to own and operate other real-world AR games, Ingress Prime and Peridot.
Wesley is the UK news editor at Passthecontroller. Find him on @wyp100’s Twitter. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
