In a rather surprising turn of events, it seems that developer Niantic is looking to get out of video games altogether. In a report on Bloomberg yesterday, it’s been stated that Niantic, which most people will know from the stratospherically popular Pokémon GO, is close to finalizing a deal to sell its gaming division to the Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely Inc. As Bloomberg claims, the deal would be worth $3.5 billion.
While Pokémon GO is still rather successful, the game’s heyday is clearly behind it. Niantic has also had trouble duplicating that success across other games, which include Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (which shuttered in 2022), Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now. Over the last few years, the developer has cancelled a number of projects and laid off a significant portion of its staff. Nintendo’s popular franchise might still be bringing in money, but not enough to offset the other losses.
As for how Niantic began courting Scopely, it likely has to do with a deal made between the company and Savvy Games. Just last August, Niantic signed a deal with Savvy to help expand its presence in Saudi Arabia. Scopely, conversely, was acquired by Savvy in 2023 for $4.9 billion with Savvy’s CEO Brian Ward telling Bloomberg it wanted to add “genre-leading” mobile titles to its roster. Scopely seems to be the major publisher that would handle Pokémon GO should a sale happen.
If that wasn’t enough, Savvy Games is part of the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s efforts to invest in the growing video game industry, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. If you’d like to learn some more about that, you can check out Nintendo Wire’s previous coverage of PIF happenings.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
