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Savvy Games Group-owned Scopely is officially acquiring Pokémon Go developer Niantic’s games business for $3.5 billion.
Rumours of the blockbuster deal began swirling last month. Scopely has now confirmed the acquisition, ultimately set to bring Pokémon Go, Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom under the company’s ownership. Companion apps and services like Campfire and Wayfarer are also included.
Ultimately, this means an array of AR and geolocation games will also come under Saudi Arabian firm Savvy Games Group’s control, as Scopely’s parent company.
On the move
Niantic’s entire games development team will also move to Scopely, led by long-time games studio leaders Kei Kawai and Ed Wu.
Following the acquisition, Niantic will spin-off its own technology platform into the standalone Niantic Spatial, led by CEO John Hanke. The new company will continue to own and operate Ingress Prime and Peridot.
“Scopely has always been focused on cultivating meaningful communities through a shared love of play, and the Niantic games organisation is one of the best in the world at this endeavour,” said Scopely chief revenue officer and board member Tim O’Brien.
“We are extremely inspired by what the team has built over the last decade, delivering innovative experiences that captivate a vast, enduring global audience and get people out in the real world. We look forward to further accelerating the team’s creativity through our partnership.”
Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke commented: “Niantic games have always been a bridge to connect people and inspire exploration, and I am confident they will continue to do both as part of Scopely.
“Scopely shares our focus on building and operating incredible live services, has exceptional experience working with the world’s biggest and most beloved intellectual properties and cares deeply about its player communities and game-making teams.”
The “mega deal” has arrived
Scopely’s seismic acquisition of Pokémon Go and more follows a tease last year that it was hoping to reach a “mega deal” in 2025, looking to purchase “a scaled global franchise doing hopefully at least a billion dollars in revenue”.
In October 2024, O’Brien suggested that the industry would hear about its first large-scale investment “probably pretty soon”.
Fast-forward to February 2025 and rumours started to swirl about in-progress talks between Scopely and Niantic, with a deal potentially set to be announced “in coming weeks”.
Now those rumours have proven to be true, as Scopely has officially confirmed its intended acquisition of the majority of Niantic’s mobile games lineup.
Pokémon Go is the clear star of that lineup with its $8.5bn in lifetime player spending accounting for 95% of Niantic’s games revenue over the past decade.
For many years it earned more than $1bn per year, though AppMagic data suggests it slipped to $796.6 million in App Store and Google Play earnings in 2024. It should be noted that these estimates do not include web shop sales.
“It’s been an incredible joy to serve hundreds of millions of Trainers in our real-world community for the past 10 years, and I truly believe the best is yet to come,” said Pokémon Go SVP Ed Wu.
“With Scopely’s full commitment, experience, and resources, we’re going to make Pokémon Go the very best it can be.”
As for the rest of Niantic’s portfolio – soon to become a part of Scopely’s portfolio – Pikmin Bloom is plucking up millions at an accelerating rate while Monster Hunter Now holds firm as Niantic’s second most lucrative game, over a quarter of the way to $1bn in less than one-and-a-half years.