Pokemon Go developer studio sold for $3.5bn

Niantic, the US software developer behind the phenomenally successful Pokemon Go Augmented Reality mobile game, has sold its gaming division and related rights to mobile game developer Scopely for $3.5bn.

Niantic was originally a geo-spatial start-up within Google before becoming independent in 2015 when Google restructured as Alphabet. At that point, Google, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company invested $30m in Niantic.

Pokémon GO was launched in 2016, and was developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android mobile devices. It is an AR game which lets mobile players ‘see’ and potentially capture Pokemon characters in the real world, and compete against other players close by.

US-based Scopely was ranked the second biggest mobile games company by revenue in the world in 2024, after Tencent Games. It was bought by Saudi-owned Savvy Games Group in April 2023 for $4.9 billion. It publishes a number of successful IP-based mobile games including Monopoly Go!, Star Trek Command and Marvel Strike Force.

Savvy Games was reported in The Guardian’s story on the Niantic deal to be a significant investor in international video games companies, including Nintendo, which it has a 7.5% stake in.

Niantic says in a statement announcing the deal that its gaming division has more than 30 million monthly active players, and had more than $1 billion in revenue in 2024. Pokemon Go has more than 20 million weekly active players on mobile devices and has also expanded into live events.

The parts of Niantic that Scopely is not acquiring will be renamed Niantic Spatial Inc., and will focus on geospatial AI. It will continue to own the games Ingress Prime and Peridot. Niantic founder John Hanke, who at one point headed Google’s Geo division, will run Niantic Spatial.