Good day, Pokémon trainers. As most of you might know by now, Niantic’s gaming division, including Pokémon GO, was recently sold to Scopely. Public figures in the Pokémon GO community and individual players have expressed interest and concerns. The decision did come suddenly and there are a lot of theories and speculations regarding the decision.
To alleviate some of the mysteries regarding this sudden decision, famous content creator Trainer Tips recently interviewed Pokémon GO’s senior product director, Michael Steranka. Here are some of the key points and pieces of information directly from the interview:
Why?
So let’s not beat around the bush and answer the most pressing question. Why sell it in the first place? Well according to Michael, one of the key reasons is that Niantic always had a “dual identity”.
One focused on making the best possible games and another focused on expanding their real-world geospatial mapping technology. Moving the gaming division to a company solely focused on games should hopefully help both the games and the technology work, separately and focus on improving in their own respective fields.
Who’s Moving on to Scopely?
So another important question is whether the original team behind Pokémon GO will be continuing to work on Pokémon GO. After all, buying a studio and then firing the team that made that studio what it is is a far too common story in the games industry.
Thankfully it seems, that everyone up to Ed, the de-facto lead of the Pokémon GO team, will be moving into their new team at Scopely.
Is Scopely Making The Game P2W?
One of the major concerns behind the Scopely acquisition is that quite a few of their games are very pay-to-win. So will Pokémon GO face the same fate?
According to Michael, Scopely’s games work on a case-by-case basis. Scopely is already impressed with Pokémon GO’s performance and as a private company it will not be beholden to shareholders or be forced to add p2w elements to increase profit margins. It seems Pokémon GO will also work independently so the GO team will have to bear more of the successes and risks independently.
How Much Data is Niantic Using, will Scopely be Taking Our Data Now?
With a game like Pokémon GO, which requires real-world location data to function, there is always concern over where player data is going, to who’s hands, and for what purpose. Personally, I believe any information regarding data on the internet should be taken with scepticism. Nevertheless, here’s the information we can glean from Michael Steranka himself:
- Data will still be going to Niantic to improve their geospatial mapping technology.
- All data will be stored in the US. Some people were worried about their information going to less travelled shores on account of Scopely’s parent company being a Saudi Arabian venture. This will apparently not be the case.
- Data collection follows existing regulations and guidelines.
- Non-essential data is not stored.
- Players are kept anonymous when gathering and using data.
What’s TPC’s Input Regarding This Situation?
The Pokémon Company, and one of its main stockholders Nintendo, are well known to be very protective of their property. So with a major part of Pokémon changing hands, there is obvious curiosity regarding TPC’s position on this situation. According to Michael, The Pokémon Company is very involved in Pokémon GO’s day-to-day affairs and everything has to be approved through them. This includes the new acquisition and it will include any decision Pokémon GO makes in the future.
What Benefits Are There in Scopely Acquiring Pokémon GO?
So are there any benefits to this acquisition that we, the players, will get to experience? As previously mentioned Niantic had a “dual identity” thus we had features such as Pokéstop scanning and Pokéstop Powering Up that in Michael’s own admission he was not fond of. So we can expect fewer half-baked features like that and more focus on what makes GO good as a game.
As for concerns such as improvements to GO Battle League and the return of Unlimited Remote Raids, for the former Michael said that improving GBL has been an ongoing process and it will continue to be so regardless of the move to the new company. But for remote raids, Michael did not clarify but mentioned Pokémon GO is a game that motivates people to go outside and will continue to be a priority.
Something tangentially related that’s worth noting is that Scopely is apparently impressed with Pokémon GO’s enduring communities and real-life events. So those are very likely not going away and might even improve in the future.
What About the Things Related to Pokémon GO, Will They Be Moving As Well?
Pokémon GO is a relatively complex game that needs external services and assistance such as the Pokéstop submission platform, Wayfarer, community management tool, Campfire, and Community Ambassadors, there is a question about what would happen to them.
Apparently, they will all be moving on to Scopely and none of them will be immediately changed or abandoned. Trainer Tips also asked if there will be any changes to how the Pokémon GO team themselves communicate with players.
In reply, Michael said he is as of yet unsure if there will be major improvements but they will at the very least stay the same as before.
Conclusion
And there you have it. Straight from the devil’s mouth. Something I really love is that Trainer Tips emphasized looking at this new acquisition with a healthy sense of scepticism. I, and I believe the rest of us here at GOHub, would definitely like to echo this sentiment. There are valid concerns, as well as excitement regarding this change. We have been trying our best to share our own opinions and keep you information regarding this change. And we will continue to bring you news regarding Pokémon GO going forward.
Goodbye for now, Pokémon trainers. Priom-out!
