On Wednesday, mobile gaming behemoth Scopely announced that it has reached an agreement to pay $3.5 billion to acquire the gaming sector of Pokémon GO creator Niantic.
According to Niantic, it would contribute an extra $350 million in cash, giving its stockholders a total worth of $3.85 billion.
The popular Pokémon GO, which has over 20 million weekly active players, Pikmin Bloom, a walking game released in 2021, Monster Hunter Now, an augmented reality game released in 2023, Campfire, a platform for community interaction, and Wayfarer, a tool for adding new map locations across Niantic games, are all part of Niantic’s game portfolio.
According to Niantic, it will now concentrate on creating 3D maps of the actual world through a new independent firm named Niantic Spatial, which will be run by founder and CEO John Hanke. All workers on Niantic’s games will join Scopely, which employs 2,300 people, as part of the agreement.
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“I am sure that as part of Scopely, niantic games will continue to inspire exploration and serve as a bridge to connect people.” In a statement, Hanke added, “Scopely shares our focus on creating and running amazing live services, has outstanding experience working with the biggest and most cherished intellectual properties in the world, and cares deeply about its player communities and game-making teams.”
$200 million from Niantic and $50 million from Scopely will make up the $250 million funding infusion for Niantic Spatial.
Players may anticipate that Niantic games, apps, and events will remain authentic, according to Scopely. The business, which creates well-known games like “MONOPOLY GO!” and “Stumble Guys,” did not reveal Niantic’s game strategy for the future.
According to Niantic, it will keep running the pet simulator game Peridot under Spatial as well as Ingress Prime, which is a reimagined version of the company’s original game Ingress.
Despite releasing a number of well-received games in recent years, Niantic has found it difficult to surpass Pokémon GO’s level of success. Players of Pokémon GO have also voiced their displeasure with the game’s increased use of premium aspects and content in recent months.
In the years since the outbreak, the business has cut off hundreds of workers and halted several high-profile projects, such as the NBA, Harry Potter, and Marvel video games.
Ninatic will concentrate on gathering location-related data in real time in the future. Its Scaniverse app was upgraded last year to enable users to model real-world things and send the information to developers. The company stated in November 2023 that it aimed to create a sizable geospatial model that would “understand a scene and connect it to millions of other scenes globally” through machine learning.
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