Niantic wants to sell "Pokémon Go" to Saudi Arabia
Niantic wants to sell its "Pokémon Go" game division to the company Scopely, which is backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund – for 3.5 billion US dollars
(Image: Niantic)
Niantic has an interested buyer for its games division: the company Scopely, which is backed by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, wants to purchase “Pokémon Go”, “Pikmin Bloom”, “Monster Hunter Now” and their development teams for 3.5 billion US dollars. However, antitrust authorities still have to approve the takeover. Niantic announced this in a press release. The previous augmented reality and AI development department will be spun off as Niantic Spatial. Scopely is investing 50 million US dollars here.
There were reports of an imminent takeover by Scopely back in February. The crown jewel of the deal is the mobile game “Pokémon Go”, which triggered global hype when it was released in 2016. Niantic developed many similar AR mobile games in the years that followed – but they were unable to match the mainstream success of 'Pokémon Go'.
“Forever games”
According to Niantic, its games are played by 100 million people a year. “Our games team has exciting, long-term roadmaps that will continue to be built as part of Scopely,” writes Niantic. “This partnership ensures that our games have the long-term support to become 'forever games'.”
According to Niantic, investments from Scopely will keep the games alive. They will also continue to be developed by the same teams. “I firmly believe that 'Pokémon Go' will continue to thrive as part of Scopely, not only in its second decade, but for many years to come,” writes lead developer Ed Wu in a blog post. “The same people who have been managing and developing the game for years will continue to do what we love.”
In addition to “Pokémon Go” and “Pikmin Bloom”, the package also includes companion applications such as Campfire and Wayfarer. While most of the Niantic games will move to Scopely as part of the acquisition, Niantic Spatial will retain the titles “Ingress Prime” and “Peridot”.
Videos by heise
Scopely is a mobile game developer that was founded in Los Angeles in 2011. In 2023, the Savvy Games Group bought the company for 4.9 billion US dollars. The Savvy Games Group was founded by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and holds shares in Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Capcom, among others.
(dahe)
