Niantic has sold its gaming division, including its flagship Pokémon Go title, to Saudi Arabia-owned mobile publishing giant Scopely for US$3.5 billion (about C$5.045 billion).
As part of this deal, Scopely will acquire games like Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now, as well as companion Niantic apps and services Campfire and Wayfarer. Niantic’s internal game development teams will also join Scopely.
In a post on its website, Niantic explained the reasoning for the sale, noting a desire to ensure that its catalogue has “the long term support needed to be ‘forever games’ that will endure for future generations.”
It added that “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.”
The San Francisco-based company also teased that its game team has “exciting long-term roadmaps that they will continue to build upon as part of Scopely.”
In its own press release about the acquisition, Scopely noted that Niantic’s game business reaches over 30 million monthly active players and earned over US$1 billion (about C$1.44 billion) last year. It adds that Pokémon Go, specifically, has also remained “a top 10 mobile game every year since its launch [in 2016]” and brought in over 100 million unique players last year.
While Niantic games will now be made under Scopely, the American company has also spun off its geospatial AI business into a new company called Niantic Spatial Inc. Niantic founder John Hanke will lead this new division, which has already secured US$200 million (about C$288 million) from Niantic’s balance sheet and a US$50 million (about C$72 million) investment from Scopely. Niantic Spatial will also retain ownership of the games Ingress Prime and Peridot.
Image credit: Scopely
Source: Scopely
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