Niantic is reportedly selling Pokémon GO to Scopely Inc.

Niantic, the company behind the ever-successful Pokémon GO are in talks to sell their video-game business to the Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely inc., according to reports.

According to reports, the price tag for such a deal would be a huge $3.5 billion. As of yet, there has not yet been any comment from Niantic on the rumoured deal. This news broke on the eve of the Pokémon GO Tour event. With in person aspects taking place in Los Angeles and New Taipei City.

The news came from a report from Bloomberg, who spoke to "several people familiar with the discussions" on the deal. The $3.5 billion deal would encompass the entire video-game business at Niantic, which would include the likes of Peridot, Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom.

The company in talks with Niantic is Scopely Inc. who are owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund backed Savvy Games Group. Scopely are responsible for some of the largest grossing mobile games, including the hugely popular MONOPOLY GO!

MONOPOLY GO! made an estimated $1.3 billion revenue in 2023. The game has a level of in-app purchases and microtransactions that existing Pokémon GO players will be more than familiar with. That being said, the company does have a good track record at keeping mobile games going.

It's believed that Niantic's willingness to sell Pokémon GO and their other games might be as a result of their desire to move towards AI and their reported Large Geospatial Model. They revealed in November that they had been using player-contributed scans of real world locations to build a Large Geospatial Model.

Selling such a valuable collection of assets, even for such a large figure, would seem like a strange move on the face of it. However, if Niantic wanted to pivot to AI work, the move would make more sense. Now they have gathered the information they need through their games they can cash in and refocus.

Now, at this stage, these are just reports. However there is not usually smoke without fire. So, Niantic are at least open to selling their games division, even if this deal does not conclude. There are additional complications expected with Pokémon GO. The game is under license from The Pokémon Company, and they might have a right to a say on the deal. Without that license, the value of the deal would decrease significantly.

Reaction to the reports has been mixed from the Pokémon GO Community.

There has been a lot of frustration with Niantic in recent months. Fans have complained about increased tickets, poor events and more. However now that push comes to shove, fans seem to prefer, as one fan put it, "the devil you know." Fans do not want to see major changes to the game they have enjoyed since 2016.

It is yet to be seen if anything will come of this report. A deal of this size would take some time, and be complicated to finalise. No matter what, it seems Niantic are prepared to part ways with their games division and their time running Pokémon GO seems to be heading towards a conclusion.

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