Pokémon Go Dev Moves to Reassure Players After $3.5 Billion Sale to Monopoly Go! Company Is Confirmed
Niantic Inc. has confirmed the sale of Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now, and their development teams to the Saudi-owned maker of Monopoly Go! for $3.5 billion.
An additional $350 million of cash from Niantic is being distributed as part of the deal, yielding a total value of approximately $3.85 billion for Niantic equity holders.
In a note to press, Scopely, which is owned by Saudi investment company Savvy Games, said the Niantic games business has over 30 million monthly active players (MAUs), over 20 million weekly active players, and saw more than $1 billion in revenue in 2024. Pokémon Go is the jewel in the crown, ranking as a top 10 mobile game every year since its launch nearly a decade ago, with over 100 million unique players in 2024.
Niantic said its game team has “exciting long-term roadmaps that they will continue to build upon as part of Scopely.”
“This partnership ensures that our games have the long term support needed to be ‘forever games’ that will endure for future generations,” Niantic said in a blog post.
“Players can expect that the games, apps, services, and events they know and love will continue to receive Scopely’s ongoing investment, driven by the same teams that have always created these experiences.”
In a separate blog post, Pokémon Go chief Ed Wu moved to reassure players who had already expressed concern about the fate of the game if a sale were to go through.
“As it’s always important to me, and our entire game team, that our community understands and is excited by the long-term vision for this game, I want to share why I believe a partnership with Scopely will be a positive step for all of you and the game’s future,” Wu, who was the original engineer on the Pokémon GO codebase and was there for its massive 2016 launch, said.
“Scopely expressed a deep admiration for this community and our team. I have every belief Pokémon GO will further flourish as part of Scopely, not only into its second decade, but for many more years to come, under the mission of discovering Pokémon in the real world and inspiring people to explore together,” Wu continued.
“Our new partnership, along with our decade long partnership with The Pokémon Company, means we can maintain this long-term focus. Scopely fully believes in our mission and ongoing goal to create the best Pokémon Go experience possible. Their focus will be to support our team, providing resources to continue delivering the gameplay you all know and love.
“The entire Pokémon Go team is staying together through this partnership. The same people who have been guiding and building the game for years will continue doing what we love. We’re always continually adding to the game – Raid Battles, friends, Go Battle League, Routes, Dynamax/Gigantamax, and, of course, Pokémon Go Fest and our live events – which I look forward to continuing to do for many years to come. Scopely empowers their game teams as autonomous groups to go after the roadmaps that they’re inspired to pursue, and what each team believes is best for the player experience. This approach is extremely appealing to us at Niantic games. I have spoken to a number of game leaders at Scopely who have given me great confidence in how the company enables each game to independently develop and creatively thrive.
“We will be joining a broader organization dedicated to games. I believe that Pokémon Go can continue to thrive with Scopely’s exclusive and long-term focus on game-making. 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.
“With Scopely’s full commitment, experience and resources, we’re going to make Pokémon Go the very best it can be – with incredible battles for thousands of Trainers at a time at our live events and new ways to connect to your friends and community, all while remaining focused on the excitement and experience of discovering Pokémon in the real world. We have invested to empower thousands of Community Leaders and Ambassadors who lead millions of Trainers to play together in the real world, and Scopely is in full agreement that this highly-admired program will be a priority to invest in together. The real-world community that loves Pokémon Go will remain our guiding light in all we do.
“Our partners at The Pokémon Company have always been central to how we build this game together, starting with the physics of the first Poké Ball throw that we hand-tuned together. I am incredibly grateful for their daily wisdom, guidance, and careful stewardship of our shared vision for discovering Pokémon in the real world, and I’m very excited that our partnership with The Pokémon Company will continue as it has for the last decade.
“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.”
Elsewhere, Niantic said it’s spinning off its controversial geospatial AI business into a new company, Niantic Spatial Inc., “enabling it to accelerate and scale even more rapidly.” Scopely is a $50 million investor in this new venture, which also has $200 million from Niantic itself.
Niantic Spatial will continue to own and operate its other real-world AR games, Ingress Prime and Peridot.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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