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The Pokemon Go developer, Niantic, has been reportedly in talks to sell off its video game arm to Scopely. A price of $3.5 billion has been thrown around according to those familiar with the situation, with the buyout potentially happening in the next few weeks.
Scopely Inc. is a Saudi Arabia-backed mobile game developer and publisher. Since its launch, it has released Monopoly Go, Yahtzee, and Star Trek Fleet Command, among others.
Selling to Scopely makes sense, as in August of last year, the company signed a deal with Savvy. This would allow expansion into the territory, as Savvy is also backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which is seeking to diversify itself.
While Scopely has been fairly successful with its launches, Niantic has never been able to recapture the magic of Pokemon Go. This is despite having access to numerous intellectual properties, including Harry Potter.
Niantic struggles to make lightning strike twice
In 2022, it let go of 8% of its workforce, as it scrapped four games. This included Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Niantic also let go of a further 230 employees, as it canned NBA and Marvel-themed games.
Currently, of the 10 games the company has launched, six remain active and online. These include Nintendo-backed Pikmin Bloom and co-developed Capcom title, Monster Hunter Now. These all integrate similar concepts to Pokemon Go, with real-world walking and spaces part of the game to discover new events in the game.
Pokemon Go still remains fairly popular, and reported in July of 2024, had hit around $8 billion earned in its eight years of life.
Last year, it was also discovered that Pokemon Go and other Niantic apps were used to help train an AI. Dubbed a “Large Geospatial Model”, it leveraged the large number of users sharing scanning data from its apps. The company clarified to IGN that this was opt-in, and was designed to enhance player experiences when using augmented reality.
Featured image: Niantic
