Niantic to Promote Gaming Division to Saudi-Funded Scopely for $3.5b Avid gamers Enviornment

Niantic has introduced that it is offered off its gaming wing to the Saudi-funded cell agency Scopely for the princely sum (no pun meant) of $3.5 billion.

The deal, which was rumored to be occurring final month, was confirmed in the present day in a information put up entitled “Niantic’s Subsequent Chapter”. Niantic says that Scopely will purchase its video games, together with Pokemon Go, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now, for the aforementioned sum “with a further $350 million of money from Niantic being distributed as a part of the deal”.

It sounds as if the event construction of Niantic’s gaming groups will not be altering a lot; in its personal information put up, Scopely says “all members of the Niantic gamemaking workforce” will be a part of Scopely’s workers and “proceed to develop and function their beloved experiences”.

Pokemon Go SVP Ed Wu says his workforce plans to make use of Scopely’s “full dedication, expertise, and assets” to make the sport “the perfect it may be”. 

For his half, Niantic head John Hanke says he is “assured” that Niantic video games will stay a “bridge to attach folks and encourage exploration” beneath Scopely, praising the brand new homeowners’ “unbelievable reside companies” and “distinctive expertise working with the world’s greatest and most beloved mental properties”.

In case you want a reminder, Scopely is the corporate liable for cell video games like Star Trek Fleet Command, Yahtzee with Buddies, and Monopoly Go, which was the largest cell recreation launch of its yr, raking in over $1 billion in 2023 alone.

The corporate is owned by the Savvy Gaming Group, a gaming funding firm backed by the nation’s Public Funding Fund. Stated fund additionally has shares within the likes of Nintendo, Embracer Group, and Capcom, amongst others.

As for Niantic’s geospatial AI enterprise, that might be spun off into its personal entity, which Hanke will proceed to guide. Appropriately, the brand new firm might be known as Niantic Spatial Inc., and its purpose is “constructing spatial intelligence that helps folks higher perceive, navigate, and interact with the bodily world”.

We’ll have to attend and see what Scopely’s influence on Niantic’s gaming properties might be, however it sounds as if the 2 studios do not intend to vary a lot within the quick time period. Keep tuned for extra.