Niantic has announced the sale of three games and their developers to Scopely – 3.5 billion US dollars are to change hands. The Californian buyer has a Saudi Arabian background.
Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now are world-famous mobile games from Niantic – and they will soon find a new home. The titles, their development teams and a few other applications are to be sold to Scopely for 3.5 billion US dollars. The deal is subject to the approval of the relevant authorities.
“Players can expect that the games, apps, services and events they know and love will continue to be supported by Scopely. And from the same teams that have always created these experiences,” says Niantic in its announcement. In addition, $350 million will be distributed to shareholders.
Scopely: Part of the Savvy Games Group
Scopely has been part of the Savvy Games Group, which is fully owned by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF, since 2023. With Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now, the desert kingdom is securing further strong brands for its own gaming portfolio through Scopely.
The Kingdom’s video game offensive is part of the 2030 Agenda, which aims to reduce the Saudi Arabian economy’s dependence on oil exports. The means of choice is to diversify investments – including gaming and eSports.
Niantic turns away from gaming
Niantic is in a state of upheaval: with the sale of the three major games, the gaming branch is being largely abandoned. The company wants to take “a new, bold course” and increasingly focus on its second pillar: “the further development of augmented reality, artificial intelligence and geodata technology”.
The company is outsourcing these efforts to a new company: Niantic Spatial. 50 million US dollars are to come from Scopely, 200 million from Niantic itself. The aim is to “shape the future of geospatial AI by building spatial intelligence that helps people better understand, navigate, and interact with the physical world”.