Niantics games division, which makes the augmented reality megahit Pokmon Go, has been sold to mobile gaming powerhouse Scopely for a whopping $3.5 billion.
As confirmed by Niantic, Scopely, and the Pokmon Go team, the deal will see the entire Niantic Games operation snapped up by Scopely, which among many, many other things makes Monopoly Go one of the few mobile games to achieve the same stratospheric level of success as Niantics flagship.
That means that Niantics other current AR games, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now, are also now owned and operated by Scopely, alongside the companion apps Campfire (for social connections between players) and Wayfarer (for submitting real-world Wayspot locations to the games). Scopely said that Niantics games business boasts over 30 million monthly active players and over $1 billion in yearly revenue most of which will be driven by Pokmon Go.
Scopely is U.S.-based but owned by Savvy Games Group, a major game industry investor established by Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund. Scopely is known for extremely aggressive monetization in its games, which include Stumble Guys, Star Trek Fleet Command, and Marvel Strike Force. This has caused some nervous Pokmon Go players to threaten an exodus if the deal were to go through.
Kinda weird they're allowed to do that. They don't own the IP to Pokemon so it's weird that it can transfer owners like that.
This also sucks for Ingress. The whole point of the game is about challenging authority and your mind.Niantic is keeping Ingress and Peridot. Their other games, Pokemon GO, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now, are what's going to Scopely.
They're basically the same game engine. That makes no sense.Niantic owns Ingress and Peridot (Peridot being their own take on the monster-collecting formula), so I guess they want to keep the titles they are actually invested in, while off-hands the games licensed from their respective IP-holders and let Scopely deal with that going forward.
I got banned from Pokemon Go years ago for using a GPS exploit on Android to catch pokemon in other countries, lol. I haven't gone back to it after that.I used to use some Korean GPS spoofing app to go across the country and catch shit I see on Pokevision. That was a lot of fun lol
Now it's truly gonna die after it becomes gacha hellLiterally always has been. That's what eggs are.