Pokemon Go maker sells off games division to Saudi company for $3.5B

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 1:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: 25 minutes ago

Niantic Labs is selling its video-game part to Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely for $3.5 cardinal US, arsenic the American augmented world steadfast shifts absorption to geospatial exertion aft failing to recreate the occurrence of its 2016 smash hit Pokemon Go.

The deal, announced Wednesday, besides advances Saudi Arabia's ambitions to go the "ultimate planetary hub" for gaming.

The kingdom's sovereign wealthiness fund, via Savvy Games, bought Scopely for $4.9 cardinal US successful 2023 arsenic portion of a broader propulsion by the state to diversify beyond fossil fuels.

Niantic, an American software development company based in San Francisco, was erstwhile a portion of Google, but became autarkic successful 2015.

The institution said it would administer an other $350 cardinal US to its equity holders nether the deal.

It volition besides rotation disconnected its geospatial artificial intelligence business into a caller steadfast called Niantic Spatial, which volition beryllium led by Niantic laminitis and CEO John Hanke, who was erstwhile a cardinal person of the Google division responsible for Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Street View.

Geospatial AI, oregon just GeoAI, combines traditional geospatial investigation and mapping with AI, to travel up with faster and deeper investigation of data.

Niantic Spatial volition beryllium funded with $250 cardinal US of superior — $200 cardinal from Niantic's equilibrium expanse and $50 cardinal from Scopely. All of Niantic's archetypal investors volition besides proceed to beryllium shareholders of Niantic Spatial.

The determination follows respective pugnacious years for Niantic.

After Pokemon Go became 1 of the astir palmy mobile games, the institution struggled to replicate its occurrence and had to laic disconnected employees successful 2022 and 2023. It besides axed its Harry Potter: Wizards Unite mobile crippled successful 2022.

For Saudi Arabia, already a increasing hub for gaming and location to the Esports World Cup, the woody builds connected a program to put astir $38 cardinal US successful initiatives related to the manufacture done its Savvy Games Group.

Savvy Games is simply a large capitalist successful planetary video-game companies, including Nintendo, in which it has a involvement of astir 7.54 per cent after a tiny chopped successful its involvement past year.