Mobile gaming leader Scopely announced on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to acquire the gaming division of Niantic, the creators of Pokémon Go, for $3.5 billion. Niantic will contribute an additional $350 million in cash, bringing the total valuation for Niantic equity holders to $3.85 billion.
Niantic’s portfolio includes the immensely popular Pokémon Go, which attracts over 20 million active players weekly, as well as Pikmin Bloom, a walking game launched in 2021; Monster Hunter Now, an AR game introduced in 2023; Campfire, a community engagement platform; and Wayfarer, a tool for adding new map locations to Niantic’s games. Following the acquisition, Niantic will pivot towards the development of real-world 3D mapping through a new independent entity named Niantic Spatial, which will be headed by CEO and founder John Hanke. As part of the transaction, all employees involved in Niantic’s games will join Scopely, which employs around 2,300 people.
“Niantic games have always served as a means to connect individuals and encourage exploration, and I am confident they will continue to do so as part of Scopely. Scopely shares our commitment to developing and managing exceptional live services, possesses remarkable expertise working with major and beloved intellectual properties, and values its player communities and game development teams,” Hanke stated. Niantic Spatial will receive a cash boost of $250 million—$200 million from Niantic and $50 million from Scopely. Scopely assured players that Niantic games, apps, and events will maintain their original essence. However, the company, known for popular titles like “MONOPOLY GO!” and “Stumble Guys,” did not detail the future plans for Niantic’s games. Niantic confirmed it will continue operating Ingress Prime, an updated version of its inaugural game Ingress, as well as the pet simulation game Peridot under the Spatial brand. While Niantic has launched several successful titles in recent years, it has struggled to replicate the massive success of Pokémon Go. Recent complaints from Pokémon Go players have centered around the increasing prevalence of paid content within the game. In the wake of the pandemic, Niantic discontinued several high-profile projects, including games based on NBA, Harry Potter, and Marvel, and has laid off hundreds of employees in recent years.
Moving forward, Niantic plans to concentrate on gathering real-world location data. Last year, the company enhanced its Scaniverse app, allowing users to create models of real-world items and share that data with developers. In November 2023, Niantic announced its ambition to create a comprehensive geospatial model that leverages machine learning to “understand a scene and link it to millions of other scenes worldwide.”
