Pokemon GO Gets a New Owner

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Niantic Labs, the creator of Pokemon GO, has sold off the game that we’ve been enjoying and complaining about since 2016. The new owner is Scopely, a game developer that makes a bunch of titles you may be familiar with, including Marvel Strike Force, Scrabble Go, Monopoly Go, and others.

If you are a Pokemon GO player, you may now be worried that the future of the game you’ve spent the better part of a decade with is going to change dramatically. Your worries there are understandable. I too am a bit worried after putting so many hours (and some dollars) into a game that was once a solo journey that turned into an experience I can play with my kid.

Here’s what everyone is saying at this moment, most of which sounds fine, but we all know how these things typically turn out. I’ll remain skeptical about it all, with some piece of hope on the side that the Pokemon GO experience might actually improve. We all know it isn’t perfect in its current state and never has been.

First, Niantic has decided to put a big focus on geospatial AI rather than games, so they are selling all of their titles and teams to Scopely for $3.85 billion:

First, for Niantic Inc., we have reached an agreement for Scopely, a world leader in mobile games, to acquire Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now, and the incredible teams working on these experiences, for $3.5 billion from Scopely with an additional $350 million of cash from Niantic being distributed as part of the deal, yielding a total value of approximately $3.85 billion for Niantic equity holders.

To keep everyone happy at the moment, they said this about Scopely, which basically is Niantic telling you not to worry (for now):

Scopely’s focus on building and operating incredible live services, its exceptional experience working with the world’s biggest and most beloved intellectual property, and care for its player communities and game-making teams make it the perfect fit for our games. Our game team has exciting long-term roadmaps that they will continue to build upon as part of Scopely. This partnership ensures that our games have the long term support needed to be “forever games” that will endure for future generations. Players can expect that the games, apps, services, and events they know and love will continue to receive Scopely’s ongoing investment, driven by the same teams that have always created these experiences.

From Scopely, they are confirming that the teams behind Niantic’s titles are coming on over to continue their work, and that includes pushing forward with their “clear vision for the future”:

The talented teams who created and continue to develop “Pokémon GO,” “Pikmin Bloom,” and “Monster Hunter Now” have a clear vision for the future. Scopely is here to help them bring that vision to life in a way that stays true to the spirit of these games and the communities that love them.

That in mind, they talked about their approach to games, how they rely on communities and their feedback (via Discord at times), with in-person meet-ups and player councils, to keep them as “living, ever-evolving experiences.” And then they once again suggested that the experiences they’ve purchased will “remain the experiences you know and love,” at least on some level:

We understand change can lead to uncertainty. But in this case, the most important thing to know is that the games you deeply enjoy will remain the experiences you know and love. Our foremost commitment will always be to you – the community – and the talented game makers will be supported in making these game universes the best they can be.

Finally, the head of Pokemon GO weighed-in to suggest that they are actually optimistic (“very excited”) about this change because of everything Scopely has told them and because the team from Niantic that’s behind Pokemon GO is sticking together (again, for now). While they wouldn’t commit to everything remaining the same, it does at least sound like the near future should be business as usual.

With Scopely’s full commitment, experience and resources, we’re going to make Pokémon GO the very best it can be – with incredible battles for thousands of Trainers at a time at our live events and new ways to connect to your friends and community, all while remaining focused on the excitement and experience of discovering Pokémon in the real world. We have invested to empower thousands of Community Leaders and Ambassadors who lead millions of Trainers to play together in the real world, and Scopely is in full agreement that this highly-admired program will be a priority to invest in together. The real-world community that loves Pokémon GO will remain our guiding light in all we do.

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I won’t say that Pokémon GO will remain the same, because it has always been a work in progress. But how we create and evolve it will remain unchanged, and I hope that we can make the experience even better for all of you.

Pokemon GO is such a successful game that it would take a lot to screw it up and Scopely is a massive developer that makes games with millions and millions of downloads. Monopoly GO, for example, has 50M+ downloads with a 4.6-star rating – it’s clear that people like their games and they know what they are doing. We’ll just have to see how this plays out over the next year or so as this transition fully unfolds and Scopely’s need to make more money off of these acquisitions arrives.

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