Niantic Labs has introduced that it’s promoting its online game division to Saudi Arabia-owned cell developer Scopely for $3.5 billion after struggling to copy the success of Pokémon Go throughout its different AR video games. The newly inked settlement contains Niantic’s Pokémon Go, Monster Hunter Now, and Pikmin Bloom cell gaming titles.
“Niantic video games have all the time been a bridge to attach folks and encourage exploration, and I’m assured they’ll proceed to do each as a part of Scopely,” mentioned Niantic CEO John Hanke. “I firmly imagine this partnership is nice for our gamers and is one of the best ways to make sure that our video games have the long-term help and funding wanted to be ‘ceaselessly video games’ that can endure for future generations.”
The acquisition is topic to regulatory approval and different closing situations. Ought to the deal undergo, it would additionally carry Niantic’s social companion apps for Pokémon Go — Campfire and Wayfarer — beneath Scopely possession. Scopely says it would achieve “Niantic’s complete crew of outstanding gamemakers and category-leading video games.” Nevertheless, the Peridot and Ingress AR gaming titles, the latter of which can also be supported by the Wayfarer mapping app, will stay beneath the possession and growth of Niantic Spatial.
Pokémon Go attracted greater than 500 million gamers in its first yr, however its recognition was impacted in 2020 when world covid lockdowns stored folks inside their properties. The corporate has since canceled a number of tasks and laid off at the least 310 staff between 2022-2023 in an try to “climate the present challenges out there.”
Right this moment’s announcement is Saudi Arabia’s newest try to muscle its means into the gaming business, having used its Saudi Public Funding Fund (PIF) to accumulate stakes in Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, and EA. The PIF was additionally used to determine Esports and gaming firm Savvy Video games Group in 2021, which later acquired Monopoly Go! developer Scopely for $4.9 billion in 2023.
The announcement seems to be the 2025 “megadeal” that Scopely’s chief income officer Tim O’Brien teased final yr, saying throughout a Q&A that it might contain “a scaled world franchise doing hopefully at the least a billion {dollars} in income.” Niantic Labs doesn’t disclose its earnings to the general public, however Scopely mentioned in its announcement that Niantic’s gaming enterprise drove $1 billion in income final yr, and Pokémon Go alone is estimated to have introduced in $7.9 billion in income since launching in 2016.
