‘Monopoly Go’ Owner Scopely Buys Niantic’s ‘Pokémon GO,’ ‘Monster Hunter Now,’ And More For $3.5 Billion
Scopely, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Savvy Games Group, can add another notch to its belt. The second-biggest mobile game developer of 2024, their Monopoly Go being the most-spent mobile game that year, is now the proud owner of Niantic’s biggest titles. For an eye-watering $3.5 billion, Scopely has obtained Pokémon GO, Monster Hunter Now, Pikmin Bloom, and more.
RELATED: ‘Monster Hunter Wilds’ Becomes Fastest Selling Capcom Game, Over 8 Million Units In Three Days
On its official website, Niantic explained how the company had evolved down two paths — one focused on creating games, and the other furthering augmented reality, AI, and geospatial technology. To continue their goals to encourage real-world exploration, and creating games that last generations, they had two major announcements.
“First, for Niantic Inc., we have reached an agreement for Scopely, a world leader in mobile games, to acquire Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now, and the incredible teams working on these experiences, for $3.5 billion from Scopely with an additional $350 million of cash from Niantic being distributed as part of the deal, yielding a total value of approximately $3.85 billion for Niantic equity holders,” the developer laid out.
This also includes the Campfire and Wayfarer companion apps.
Niantic went on to praise Scopely’s “focus on building and operating incredible live services, its exceptional experience working with the world’s biggest and most beloved intellectual property, and care for its player communities and game-making teams make it the perfect fit for our games.”
This includes their support for Niantic’s games and their long-term roadmaps.
“Second, we are spinning off our pioneering geospatial AI business into a new company, Niantic Spatial Inc., enabling it to accelerate and scale even more rapidly,” Niantic elaborated. The company will be funded with $250 million of capital ($200 million from Niantic, $50 million from Scopely), with all Niantic investors continuing to be shareholders in Niantic Spatial.
True to its name, Niantic Spatial will aim to “lead the future of geospatial AI by building spatial intelligence that helps people better understand, navigate, and engage with the physical world,” and continue to operate their AR games Ingress Prime and Peridot.
Scopely’s own announcement covered many of the same beats, delving into the raw metrics for Niantic’s titles (over 30 million monthly active players, and $1 billion in revenue last year). Both that and the subsequent announcement gushed over the success of Pokémon GO — remaining a top 10 mobile title every year since its launch nine years prior.
“With the Niantic games business, our combined portfolio will create one of the largest player communities in the world with over half a billion players,” Scopely boasted.
This dedication to the games’ fanbase was seen in Scopely’s third announcement on the acquisition. They opened insisting they “deeply respect what makes these games special – the freedom to explore, the community forged along the way, and the thrill of discovery,” and future design choices to refine and improve the games over time will be with the community in mind.
They went on to purport that they would “deliver the best possible player experiences” for the games’ communities, and support the Niantic teams to help them realize their vision and roadmaps. They also aim to foster the relationships and listen to their new players, as they had with their own games via player councils, in-person events, and Discord servers.
RELATED: Rumor: Nintendo Switch 2 Is Cheaper Than PS5 And Xbox, Third-Party Titles List Grows
“We understand change can lead to uncertainty. But in this case, the most important thing to know is that the games you deeply enjoy will remain the experiences you know and love. Our foremost commitment will always be to you — the community — and the talented game makers will be supported in making these game universes the best they can be,” Scopely reassured.
Ed Wu, Niantic’s senior vice president of Pokémon GO, also gave his own thoughts via the game’s official website. He reiterated that Scopely is eager to enact the game’s long-term vision, and the team would be staying together.
“Scopely’s status as a private company also means we can prioritize what’s best for you, our Trainers, for the long term. We believe that prioritizing short-term gains at the expense of our long-term mission would be counterproductive and self-defeating. Every interaction I’ve had with Scopely leaders has reinforced that we are in total agreement that the scale, longevity, and most of all, real world community, of Pokémon GO make it truly special. We are united in protecting that.”
“I won’t say that Pokémon GO will remain the same, because it has always been a work in progress. But how we create and evolve it will remain unchanged, and I hope that we can make the experience even better for all of you. I have so much gratitude for the incredible joy of serving hundreds of millions of Trainers in our real-world community for the past nine years, and I truly believe the best is yet to come,” Wu closed.
Despite this, the news has been met with a mixed bag of excitement and trepidation. Even when the purchase was considered only a rumor, some were concerned about Scopely’s supposedly “overtly aggressive monetization tactics” seen in Marvel Strike Force and Star Trek Fleet Command — and attempted to kick up a campaign laying out what they wouldn’t accept. Fear of this monetization continued once the news became official.
RELATED: From 60 FPS To More Ports, These Are The Top 5 Things Gamers Want From The Nintendo Switch 2
Scopely’s monetization tactics were explained in-part by YouTuber Belinda Ercan. In a now private video (reacted to by many others), Ercan theorizes the fiscal success of Monopoly Go is due to it mimicking many elements of the far-more overt and highly-successful Casino game, Coin Master.
In both games, players hit a big red button to spin a slot machine or roll dice. With their winnings, they then build up a virtual city or other diorama. Other players can then destroy these buildings or raid others’ banks for money. Then when players run out of the ability to spin or roll, they can wait a long time until more chances are available, or buy more chances (with special limited-time bundles no less).
Ercan goes as far as calling Monopoly Go a gambling “skinner box” that uses dark patterns and social media elements to be addicting — and far from the rules of the original board game.
YouTuber Lewtwo was one of those who felt Pokémon GO could only get better by default. “Pokemon GO‘s development team being suddenly acquired by a random ass company should shock me but given how consistently Niantic has fumbled for literally ten f—–g years idk man. Easily the most predatory thing to come out of this series. any possibility of change is welcome.”
Webmaster of fansite Serebii, Joe Merrick, was divided. “I am in two minds about this. Niantic in recent years have been making decisions that have damaged Pokémon GO while pushing Niantic’s core beliefs, and it’s resulted in tickets for every event to make up for it. However, I’m hesitant due to monetisation in Scopely’s other games.”
The deal is expected to close in 2025, and after that, only time will tell what will happen to Niantic’s games.
More About:Video Game News