Trainers, a bombshell news item dropped on the official Pokémon GO blog: Pokémon GO has been sold to Scopely Inc! Scopely has allegedly been in talks with Niantic to buy Pokémon GO, but now we have an official confirmation from the Niantic team and Scopely.
News from Niantic’s side
Pokémon GO will be joining Scopely, a video-game developer and publisher home to a wide range of leading games and talented teams around the world. Ed Wu, the Pokémon GO lead at Niantic, has shared a few details on the blog post about the future of Pokémon GO and the team behind it:
- Scopely shared that they admire the game and its community, intending to support the game’s mission and provide resources to enhance the gameplay. There is no imminent changes happening.
- The current team behind Pokémon GO will remain as it is, no layoffs planned, and they will continue their work under the new partnership. This includes continuing to add features such as Raid Battles, GO Battle League, and live events like Pokémon GO Fest.
- Wu is optimistic about the Scopely partnership, mentioning it is beneficial for maintaining a long-term focus on the game, avoiding short-term gains that could undermine the game’s mission. This is honestly in stark contrast to what players from other Scopely games have expressed.
- Investing in the real-world community aspects of Pokémon GO will continue, and there are no plans to cancel this. This includes large-scale live events, Community leaders and Ambassadors. No changes planned there
- The TPCI partnership continues:
“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.”
- Wu has noted that the game will not remain the same.
News from Scopely’s Side
Scopely has published 3 articles on this acquisition:
- Why Scopely is teaming up with Niantic games
- A message to the “Pokémon GO,” “Pikmin Bloom,” and “Monster Hunter Now” communities
- Scopely to acquire Niantic games business, which includes “Pokémon GO,” one of the most successful mobile games of all time
Scopely, the #1 mobile games company in the U.S., announced today it has signed an agreement to acquire Niantic’s games business. The deal, valued at $3.5 billion, will bring Niantic’s entire team of exceptional gamemakers and category-leading games “Pokémon GO,” “Pikmin Bloom,” and “Monster Hunter Now” to Scopely’s portfolio, among other apps and live experiences. At Scopely, the Niantic game teams will continue to pursue their ambitious roadmaps, led by their long-time game studio leaders Kei Kawai and Ed Wu.
With over 20M weekly active players, the game has remained a top 10 mobile title every year since its launch in 2016. “Pokémon GO” players, also known as Trainers, have explored more than 30 billion miles together.
“Niantic games have always been a bridge to connect people and inspire exploration, and I am confident they will continue to do both as part of Scopely,” said John Hanke, founder and CEO of Niantic.
“Scopely shares our focus on building and operating incredible live services, has exceptional experience working with the world’s biggest and most beloved intellectual properties, and cares deeply about its player communities and game-making teams. I firmly believe this partnership is great for our players and is the best way to ensure that our games have the long-term support and investment needed to be ‘forever games’ that will endure for future generations.”
Upon the acquisition, Niantic will spin off its technology platform into a new standalone entity, Niantic Spatial Inc. Led by Hanke, Niantic Spatial will be a geospatial AI company powered by a next generation map, enabling devices and machines to understand and interact with the physical world. Niantic Spatial and will continue to own and operate AR games “Ingress Prime” and “Peridot.” Read more on the Niantic blog here.
All members of the Niantic gamemaking team, along with tenured leaders Kei Kawai and Ed Wu, will join over 2,300 Scopeleans across Asia, EMEA, North America, and Central America to continue to develop and operate their beloved experiences.
“It’s been an incredible joy to serve hundreds of millions of Trainers in our real-world community for the past 10 years, and I truly believe the best is yet to come,” said Ed Wu, SVP of “Pokémon GO.” “Our mission remains clear: to inspire people to discover Pokémon in the real world together. With Scopely’s full commitment, experience, and resources, we’re going to make Pokémon GO the very best it can be – from incredible battles for thousands of Trainers at a time at our live events to new ways to connect to your friends and community. Most importantly, we’ll remain focused on the excitement and experience of discovering Pokémon in the real world.”
