Mobile games company Scopely announced that it has signed a $3.5 billion deal to acquire Niantic’s games business, officially adding Niantic’s game developers and titles such as Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now to their portfolio.
Scopely is known for developing mobile games such as Monopoly Go, Star Trek Fleet Command and Marvel Strike Force. Notably, with the closing of this deal, Scopely will become one of the only games companies with two top 10 mobile games (Pokémon Go and Monopoly Go) , which are known for having two of the biggest mobile game launches of all time in 2016 and 2023, respectively.
In a statement aimed at the Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now communities, Scopely stressed that the games players know and love will not change, as their original developers will continue to work on these titles with additional support and resources provided by Scopely.
Ed Wu, leader of the Niantic Pokémon Go team, concurred in a seperate statement, sharing: “I believe that Pokémon Go can continue to thrive with Scopely’s exclusive and long-term focus on game-making. Scopely’s status as a private company also means we can prioritize what’s best for you, our Trainers, for the long term.”
Post-acquisition, Niantic will transform its technology platform into Niantic Spacial, a geospatial AI business led by Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke. Niantic Spacial will focus on improving navigation technology in AI models, with the goal of allowing both people and machines to better understand and navigate the physical world.
