Image: Niantic
The talks between Niantic and Scopely have not been finalised.
Niantic, the company behind 2016 global hit Pokémon GO, is reportedly in discussions to sell the company to Saudi-owned Scopely Inc.
According to a report by Bloomberg, several reliable resources shared that it will take a few weeks before this deal can be finalised, with the sale price reportedly set at around $3.5 billion. The potential sale will include all of Niantic’s mobile games, including the most popular one, Pokémon Go. However, the outcome has not been confirmed, with talks still ongoing.
Since 2016, the free-to-play augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go took the world by storm, reporting a peak player count of 232 million (report by location spoofer Locacange). Since then, the number has declined, but a rise in players were also noted during the pandemic, when remote raids were introduced. The number has continued to decline since, but a report from game statistics page Active Player states that the game still boasts a stable player count of 115 million players in the last 30 days, and a lifetime revenue estimated at $5 billion in total.
The company also released other successful titles like Pikmin Bloom, which according to a report by Pocket Gamer in November, generated over $63 million in the last three years. By comparison, another location-based game called Monster Hunter Now generated close to $225 million in its first year, but only gained around 10 milion players.
While both are smaller successes, they still lagged behind Pokémon GO in terms of revenue and player count. According to a report by Polygon, Niantic had multiple layoffs in 2022 when Harry Potter: Unite was shuttered, and laid off more than 200 more employees in 2023. Niantic also had to discontinue titles like Pokémon All-World and Marvel: World of Heroes, and discontinued their LA studio to put more focus on Pokémon GO.
Beyond gaming, Niantic also focused on augmented reality and geospatial technology—and has reported in November 2024 that they were using player data to train a new AI model called the Large Geospatial Model. On the other hand, Scopely also has some successful titles, with Monopoly Go! at the forefront. Other popular titles include Marvel Strike Force, Star Trek Fleet Command, and Stumble Guys.
The company was acquired by Savvy Games Group for $4.9 billion back in 2022, and now operates under Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). This is also not the first time the Pokémon GO devs have worked with Savvy, as Niantic signed a deal with Savvy in August 2024 to help expand in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.
With discussions still ongoing, fans will have to wait and see how Pokémon Go transitions to Scopely, and if any meaningful changes might come out of it.
