{"id":842854,"date":"2025-04-22T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T02:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/report-pokemon-go-maker-niantic-could-sell-video-game-business-for-3-5-billion\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T21:12:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T02:12:00","slug":"report-pokemon-go-maker-niantic-could-sell-video-game-business-for-3-5-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/report-pokemon-go-maker-niantic-could-sell-video-game-business-for-3-5-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Pokemon Go maker Niantic could sell video game business for $3.5 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-module=\"content\" data-testid=\"article-base-body-content\">\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><span>Pokemon Go<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"> developer Niantic is reportedly in talks to sell its video game business to mobile publisher Scopely for $3.5 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-02-19\/-pokemon-go-maker-nears-3-5-billion-deal-to-sell-games-unit\">According to a report from Bloomberg<\/a><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\">, Niantic is contemplating exiting the world of game development to presumably focus on its other products\u2013which include a geospatial AI model and XR visual editor Niantic Studio.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Several people familiar with the situation explained a deal could be announced in the coming weeks, and claimed the transaction would include <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><span>Pokemon Go<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"> and other mobile titles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">The purported buyer, Scopely, is owned by Saudi multinational investment company Savvy Games Group, which itself is a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><span>Pokemon Go<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"> remains the MVP within Niantic&#8217;s video game business. The studio has launched other\u00a0AR titles in a bid to replicate that success, but the results have been decidedly mixed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Titles based on notable franchises like Pikmin and Monster Hunter remain active, but other projects such as <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><span>Harry Potter: Wizards Unite<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\">, <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><span>NBA All-World<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\">, and <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><span>Marvel World of Heroes<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"> have all been scrapped.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Those cancellations came amid layoffs and office closures\u2013with Niantic <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/business\/niantic-cancels-projects-closes-la-office-to-prioritize-i-pok-mon-go-i-\">cutting 230 roles in 2023<\/a><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"> after shifting away from internal game development.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Niantic and Scopely declined to comment on the situation when approached by Bloomberg.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h2>About the Author<\/h2>\n<div data-component=\"contributor-summary\">\n<p><a data-testid=\"contributor-summary-img-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/author\/chris-kerr\" data-discover=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-component=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/eu-images.contentstack.com\/v3\/assets\/blt740a130ae3c5d529\/blt1c7a117d71555292\/650efbcad3423169a8871059\/chris_kerr_headshot.jpg?width=400&#038;auto=webp&#038;quality=80&#038;disable=upscale\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Chris Kerr\" title=\"Chris Kerr\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"contributor-summary-subtitle\">News Editor, GameDeveloper.com<\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Game Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning journalist and reporter with over a decade of experience in the game industry. His byline has appeared in notable print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, International Business Times, and\u00a0<\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/pocketgamer.biz\/\">PocketGamer.biz<\/a><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\">. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events including GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton. He has featured on the judging panel at The Develop Star Awards on multiple occasions and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss breaking news.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Chris Kerr <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/business\/report-pokemon-go-maker-niantic-could-sell-video-game-business-for-3-5-billion\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pokemon Go developer Niantic is reportedly in talks to sell its video game business to mobile publisher Scopely for $3.5 billion. According to a report from Bloomberg , Niantic is contemplating exiting the world of game development to presumably focus on its other products\u2013which include a geospatial AI model and XR visual editor Niantic Studio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":842855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22200,193],"tags":[5670,6378],"class_list":{"0":"post-842854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pokemon","8":"category-report","9":"tag-pokemon","10":"tag-report"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}