It’s official – Niantic has sold Pokémon Go to Scopely for the eye-watering sum of $3.5 billion. As part of the sale, Scopely has also acquired Niantic’s other location-based games, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now.
Niantic Inc. is the company behind possibly the best mobile game ever – Pokémon Go. Since its release in 2016, it has remained one of the top games on iOS and Android and still pulls in plenty of players and profit. Ed Wu, the leader of Pokémon Go’s team, expressed in a blog post his excitement for the acquisition and clarified that while things may change, he’s confident that Scopely will allow the team to “independently develop and creatively thrive.”
Although Scopely, the top mobile games company in the US and creator of Monopoly Go, is acquiring Pokémon Go and Niantic’s other games, this isn’t leading to any layoffs or team changes – a rare glimmer of hope in today’s game industry. The entire existing development team is moving from Niantic to Scopely, allowing dedicated devs to continue their dedicated work.
The move to Scopely also won’t affect Pokémon Go’s ties to The Pokémon Company, meaning Pokémon Go’s events around the world will continue to thrive. It really seems like Scopely is passionate about the acquisition, as its blog post reads, “We have long admired the innovative gameplay pioneered by the Niantic games team and the vibrant communities that have shaped the titles into the beloved experiences they are today.”
Overall, the future of Pokémon Go looks bright with Scopely, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of 2025 brings for the game. Plus, Scopely loves to give out freebies like its free Monopoly Go dice, so maybe we’ll start getting more Pokémon Go codes in the near future.