
Pokémon Go is one of the biggest games of the decade. Like Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V, it was a sensation when it launched and remains a massive part of the fabric of online gaming years later. But Niantic, the tech startup that created it, might soon be spinning Pokémon Go off along with its other less successful gaming experiments. Bloomberg reports that Scopely, the Saudi Arabia-owned mobile gaming company behind smash hit Monopoly Go, is in talks to add Pokémon Go to its arsenal for a whopping $3.5 billion.
According to Bloomberg, a deal could materialize in the next few weeks but nothing is locked in for certain yet. A potential sale would come after Niantic and Savvy, Scopely’s parent company owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, inked a deal last summer to expand Pokémon Go’s reach in the region through local investments.
Scopely’s own mobile hit, Monopoly Go, had made over $2 billion as of a year ago. Unlike Pokémon Go, an augmented reality game meant to be played by groups of people wandering outside looking for whimsical creatures, the board game adaptation is mainly a cleverly designed solo skinner box for watching numbers go up as players accrue wealth and real estate. Scopely, which also operates Marvel Strike Force and Star Fleet Strike Command, was purchased by Savvy back in 2023 for nearly $5 billion as the investment company becomes a growing player in the world of games.
Despite Pokémon Go becoming a household name since its launch back in 2016, Niantic, which grew out of an internal Google startup, has struggled to replicate that success across other franchises and genres. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite arrived in 2019 and shut down just a few years later, while Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now, despite being fun mobile games, never took off in the same way. It’s unclear what would happen with those under Savvy management.
.