Mobile games company Scopely (Monopoly Go, Stumble Guys, Marvel Strike Force) has inked a $3.5 billion to acquire the games business of Niantic, the company behind hit AR titles including Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now. The deal also brings Niantic’s social companion apps Campfire and Wayfarer and its live experiences operations into the Scopely fold. Niantic will distribute an additional $350 million in cash for a total Niantic shareholder value of $3.85B.
Both companies assure players that the game teams have established extensive road maps which will guide further development, let by long-time game studio leaders Kei Kawai (Chief Product Officer, Niantic) and Ed Wu, head of Pokémon Go. In a blog post, Wu writes, “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.” He cites Scopley’s “deep admiration” for the team and community and notes that the entire team will remain intact through the new “partnership.”
One of the most successful mobile games of all time, Pokémon Go is based on the smash-hit global entertainment franchise Pokémon, and launched in 2016. Nearly a decade later, the game boasts more than 20 million weekly active players across more than 190 countries and regions, and has remained a top 10 mobile title every year.
Niantic details on its blog that concurrent to the Scopely deal, it will be spinning off its geospatial AI business into the new company Niantic Spatial. Led by John Hanke, Niantic Spatial will be funded with $250 million of capital, including $200 million from Niantic’s balance sheet and a $50 million investment from Scopely. All of Niantic’s original investors will also continue to be shareholders of Niantic Spatial.
“Niantic Spatial’s goal is to lead the future of geospatial AI by building spatial intelligence that helps people better understand, navigate, and engage with the physical world,” the post explains.
“Niantic Spatial is powered by a third-generation digital map that captures the content of the world at a level of fidelity never before achieved and enables both humans and machines to understand it in ways never before possible. This is part of the connective tissue that will enable AI to meaningfully understand and interact with the physical world.” The company’s launch platform is “designed for diverse industry applications, it enhances manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, construction, tourism, entertainment, and education by enabling precise tracking, AR-guided navigation, and real-time 3D spatial visualization.”
Niantic will also be retaining its flagship AR game, Ingress, as well as Peridot.
What was less clear across multiple announcement posts, as flagged by tech watcher 404 Media, is what will become of the location data of millions of players of Niantic’s real-world exploration games (Pokémon Go users have logged more 30 billion miles of exploration, according to Niantic and Scopely). The outlet notes that Scopely’s direct investment in Niantic Spatial suggests an interest in monetizing player location and AR camera scanning data.
While pointing out a lack of transparency about future data use to players, 404 Media also aired that while Scopely is based in the U.S., it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabian company Savvy Games — which is, in turn, owned by the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund. In its 2024 World Report, Human Rights Watch described Saudi Arabia’s human rights record as “egregious” and highlighted the government’s infiltration of social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to monitor and target activists and political dissidents. The country also passed a a data protection law and regulations which grant extensive power to government agencies to access personal data based on undefined “security reasons.”
Scopely followed up with a statement to 404 Media after the article was published, saying: “Protecting player privacy and data is of the utmost importance to both Scopely and Niantic. Player data always has and will continue to be handled in accordance with strict data privacy laws and regulations, as well as stored exclusively on U.S.-based servers. We never have and never will sell data to third parties. Player data will continue to be held in the U.S. following the acquisition. Scopely maintains a fully autonomous and independent operational model distinct from Savvy and the PIF, including retaining full sovereignty over its technology ecosystem.”
The company added that the precise location data for Niantic players is kept for a limited time and only used for essential game ops such as cheating mitigation and bug fixes; this data is removed from Niantic systems if/when it is no longer necessary. Scopely adds that players can opt-in to share scans or video of public places which will be anonymized and provided to Niantic Spatial.
[Sources: Niantic, Scopely, 404 Media, HRW]
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