Pokemon Go Video Game Maker Niantic Acquired By Scopely For $3.5 Billion

[cpvr]

Pokemon Go will be heading to its new home under the ownership of Scopely as Niantic has officially sold the game to Scopely for $3.5 billion.




Mobile gaming firm Scopely is paying $3.5 billion to acquire the video game business of Niantic, including marquee asset Pokémon Go.

The deal also brings titles like Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now into Scopely’s portfolio, along with other apps and live experiences

Niantic’s teams will continue to be managed by their longtime game studio leaders Kei Kawai and Ed Wu.

Scopely is known for mobile games like Monopoly Go, Stumble Guys, Star Trek TM Fleet Command and Marvel Strike Force.

Pokémon Go, first introduced in 2016, remains a global phenomenon. It attracted more than 100 million players in 2024 and has remained a top 10 mobile title every year since its launch. It helped usher in the concept of augmented reality, capitalizing on booming growth of smartphones.




The social aspect of the game is a key part of its appeal, with millions of players also attending related festivals and events around the world. In a blog post announcing the deal, Scopely said more people attended Pokémon GO Fest last year than Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Tomorrowland combined.

The game’s global Google search volume offers another gauge of its popularity. In the past seven days, it was nearly eight times greater than the No. 1 movie on Netflix, nearly 10 times the level of the No. 1 song on Spotify, and topped searches for soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has hundreds of millions of social media followers.

“Scopely has always been focused on cultivating meaningful communities through a shared love of play,
and the Niantic games organization is one of the best in the world at this endeavor. We are extremely
inspired by what the team has built over the last decade, delivering innovative experiences that captivate
a vast, enduring global audience and get people out in the real world. We look forward to further
accelerating the team’s creativity through our partnership,” said Tim O’Brien, Chief Revenue Officer
and board member of Scopely.

Source: ‘Pokémon Go’ Video Game Maker Niantic Acquired By Scopely For $3.5 Billion

This news was first reported by Bloomberg back in February. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ker-nears-3-5-billion-deal-to-sell-games-unit


What are your thoughts on the price tag? Do you think Scopely paid too much for Pokemon Go or was the price just right?

Where do you see Pokemon go heading from here?

 

[Demon_skeith]

Wow, never thought it be sold off like that. I hope the new owners keep it going properly.

 

[cpvr]

Niantic has made a new announcement discussing the recent sale to Scopely. Niantic's Next Chapter (TL;DR, Peridot and Ingress Prime are NOT part of the Scopely sale, they will remain US-based with Niantic Spatial)

Niantic's Next Chapter: Introducing a New Home for Niantic Games and a New Future for Niantic Spatial Inc.

nianticlabs.com

Niantic’s Next Chapter: Introducing a New Home for Niantic Games and a New Future for Niantic Spatial Inc.

Today we’re announcing changes at Niantic that will set us on a bold new course.

Nearly a decade ago, we spun out as a small team from Google with a bold vision: to use technology to overlay the world with rich digital experiences. Our goal: to inspire people to explore their surroundings and foster real-world connections, especially at a time when relationships were becoming increasingly digital.

To bring this mission and technology to life, we started building games; today, more than 100 million people play our games annually, with more than a billion friend connections made across the world.

People have discovered their neighborhoods, explored new places, and moved more than 30 billion miles. They’ve also come together at our live events – where everyone is a participant, not just a spectator – contributing over a billion dollars in economic impact in the cities that host them.

As we grew, the company naturally evolved along two complementary paths – one focused on creating games and bringing them to the world, and the other dedicated to advancing augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and geospatial technology.

Meanwhile, the rapid progress in AI reinforces our belief in the future of geospatial computing to unlock new possibilities for both consumer experiences and enterprise applications. At the same time, we remain committed to creating “forever games” that will last for generations.

To achieve these goals, we are making two major announcements today:

First, for Niantic Inc., we have reached an agreement for Scopely, a world leader in mobile games, to acquire Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now, and the incredible teams working on these experiences, for $3.5 billion from Scopely with an additional $350 million of cash from Niantic being distributed as part of the deal, yielding a total value of approximately $3.85 billion for Niantic equity holders.

Scopely’s focus on building and operating incredible live services, its exceptional experience working with the world’s biggest and most beloved intellectual property, and care for its player communities and game-making teams make it the perfect fit for our games. Our game team has exciting long-term roadmaps that they will continue to build upon as part of Scopely. This partnership ensures that our games have the long term support needed to be “forever games” that will endure for future generations. Players can expect that the games, apps, services, and events they know and love will continue to receive Scopely’s ongoing investment, driven by the same teams that have always created these experiences.

Read more about the transaction on the Scopely blog: Scopely to acquire Niantic games business; along with a message from Scopely co-CEOs and a message from Ed Wu, the head of Pokémon GO.

Second, we are spinning off our pioneering geospatial AI business into a new company, Niantic Spatial Inc., enabling it to accelerate and scale even more rapidly. Led by John Hanke, Niantic Spatial will be funded with $250 million of capital, including $200 million from Niantic’s balance sheet and a $50 million investment from Scopely. All of Niantic’s original investors will also continue to be shareholders of Niantic Spatial. Read more from John here.

Niantic Spatial’s goal is to lead the future of geospatial AI by building spatial intelligence that helps people better understand, navigate, and engage with the physical world.

Niantic Spatial is powered by a third-generation digital map that captures the content of the world at a level of fidelity never before achieved and enables both humans and machines to understand it in ways never before possible. This is part of the connective tissue that will enable AI to meaningfully understand and interact with the physical world.

Niantic Spatial Platform

Last year, we introduced the Niantic Spatial Platform – a milestone in our geospatial AI efforts. This comprehensive suite integrates spatial computing, Extended Reality, Geographic Information Systems, and Artificial Intelligence to create immersive experiences that seamlessly blend the digital and physical worlds with centimeter-level precision. Designed for diverse industry applications, it enhances manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, construction, tourism, entertainment, and education by enabling precise tracking, AR-guided navigation, and real-time 3D spatial visualization.

Our Visual Positioning System (VPS) and computer vision stack already power gaming experiences for millions in Pokémon GO, Ingress, and Peridot. Scaniverse, which uses breakthrough Gaussian splatting technology for more vibrant, accurate, and faster-rendering 3D models, serves hundreds of thousands of users monthly. Through real-world deployment, Niantic Spatial Platform has evolved from a consumer technology into an enterprise-grade solution, delivering high-fidelity scans, precise positioning, and AR visualizations with centimeter-level accuracy. To learn more, contact a Niantic Spatial Platform expert.

Niantic Spatial is developing a Large Geospatial Model – a world model powered by large-scale machine learning that enables people and machines to understand and navigate the physical world. This model enhances spatial reasoning in Large Language Models (LLMs) by providing a spatially grounded and semantically rich understanding of real-world locations. Built on a proprietary database of over 30 billion posed images, it delivers an unparalleled foundation for geospatial AI, enabling a deeper contextual understanding of the real world.

Niantic Spatial will continue to own and operate our other real-world AR games, Ingress Prime and Peridot, as best-in-class applications of the geospatial platform.

 

[Demon_skeith]

Niantic has made a new announcement discussing the recent sale to Scopely. Niantic's Next Chapter (TL;DR, Peridot and Ingress Prime are NOT part of the Scopely sale, they will remain US-based with Niantic Spatial)

Niantic's Next Chapter: Introducing a New Home for Niantic Games and a New Future for Niantic Spatial Inc.

nianticlabs.com

Niantic’s Next Chapter: Introducing a New Home for Niantic Games and a New Future for Niantic Spatial Inc.

It does sound like a great deal, I hope it turns out well.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Man this makes me kind of upset and scared for the future of Pokemon Go. I play Go on a daily basis but I've heard bad things about Scopely and how their games are usually pay to win basically... I have a bad feeling players will need to purchase passes to get certain items and they'll only last for a day or so. I know Niantic had things you could buy in store for real money but Scopely is on a whole different level.

 

[Baw$e]

I'm surprised Niantic sold Pokemon Go, but the app has already surpassed it's peak in my opinion. I think Niantic was smart to get $3.5 billion while they could.

 

[Nomad]

I have read this news, and I am also aware of the privacy concern raised due to this sale. However, I never played the game

 

[lens]

The acquisition of Niantic by Scopely for $3.5 billion will certainly transform everything! Scopely now have Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now under theit belts. This will definitely uplifts the business of Scopely.

 

[cpvr]

The acquisition of Niantic by Scopely for $3.5 billion will certainly transform everything! Scopely now have Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now under theit belts. This will definitely uplifts the business of Scopely.

Hopefully they’ll be able to continue the growth of the game and expand it.

As long as the game continues to do well under their ownership, it’ll work out.

 

[lens]

Hopefully they’ll be able to continue the growth of the game and expand it.

As long as the game continues to do well under their ownership, it’ll work out.

This acquisition is big for Scopely, adding Pokémon GO and others as top games in the portfolio. I also hope they keep growing and expand these games.

 

[Cory]

As a big fan who opens the game multiple times a day, I hope this buy-out won't be the death of the game in the foreseeable future. I've been playing almost since its debut. I'm almost to the top level, I need more XP.

 

[lens]

This is an interesting yet a big move. I know that scopely will bring its expertise to enhancing Pokémon Go and other Niantic games.