We had an opportunity to quickly talk with Niantic’s Michael Steranka (Senior Product Director) and Mark Van Lommel (Communications Director, Games and Influencer Partnerships), on the topic of the Scopely acquisition of Niantic’s games portfolio.
On multiple occasions in this conversation, Michael and Mark reference Ed Wu’s “Pokémon GO: Moving to a New Home with Scopely” post that went live on the official Pokémon GO website today, announcing the sale.
Without further ado, let’s dive in!
Conversation with Michael Steranka and Mark Van Lommel
How are you two feeling?
Van Lommel: I’m personally very excited about the news. Getting access to more resources is great all around, while continuing to get to do what we love – supporting you all and supporting a growing Trainer community.
Steranka: Genuinely, I think this is a really exciting opportunity. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a bit bittersweet, having been at Niantic for 8 years now, but I do think the support we’re going to be receiving within Scopely means only great things for the future of PGO. I’ve had the benefit of being able to meet and talk with the execs over at Scopely for the past few months, and I have every reason to believe that they deeply care about the amazing community we’ve built, and their only hope is to help us grow it even further.
How was it talking with Scopely?
Steranka: Everything Ed shared in his letter to the community has matched my experience. I’ve had a couple chances to speak with Scopely leaders over the past couple months and each conversation has started and ended with essentially: “What are ways we can help you make Pokémon GO the best game it can be?”
I’m excited for the future and think we have a great opportunity to do some awesome things as we head into Pokémon GO’s 10th year!
Is Scopely committed to keep (or improve) the actual contents available to free to play players?
Steranka: We’re not making changes to the Pokémon GO experience! I know it’s a bit long, but I definitely recommend reading Ed’s note that I linked above; he touches on this a bit.
Steranka: Pokémon GO will continue to operate as usual, led by the same passionate team who built and continues to work on the game. Scopely is committed to empowering us to lead and continue driving the product roadmap, ensuring the game’s future remains in the hands of those who know it best. Scopely is also committed to maintaining and expanding our global events like GO Tour, GO Fest and this year’s program of upcoming events in Paris, Jersey City and Osaka will all continue as planned. Together we will continue to build and invest in our special global Trainer community.
Was keeping the team mandatory for this deal?
Steranka: Keeping the band together was incredibly important to us, and one of the reasons we knew Scopely would be a great fit is: it seemed equally important to them! From the get-go, they’ve always insisted that they would only be interested in this acquisition if the full development team was coming along (not that it was ever in question on the Niantic side, haha). They really see how valuable and unique this team is, and like I mentioned, all the signals I’ve gotten from Scopely so far is that they want to empower us to do even more ^_^
Van Lommel: When the rumors first hit, this is why I wasn’t worried – nobody would want to mess with a winning formula, and the PGO team works so hard to do the best job possible, and we’ll continue to do just that: work to make the best game possible and support our global Trainer community.
Are Campfire and Wayfarer part of the deal? Will they continue to operate as normal?
Steranka: Campfire and Wayfarer are coming along to Scopely. We wouldn’t be able to continue growing this community without those teams and initiatives!
Looks like Campfire & Wayfarer is included based on this image. What’s missing is Ingress. Any news on Ingress being apart of this?
Steranka: Ingress will continue to operate under the new startup, Niantic Spatial. You can read their announcement here: https://ingress.com/news/ingress-is-not-just-a-game
Will Peridot also be under Niantic Spatial?
Van Lommel: That’s right. If you’ve been following Peridot’s evolution, you’ll realize how closely tied it is to AR, hardware and Niantic’s tech that it makes sense for it to live under Niantic Spatial.
