'Pokémon Go' game creator sells himself for $3.5 billion

Pokémon Go - the highest-grossing virtual reality game of all time - will be sold to Scopely, a company majority owned by a Saudi Arabian investment fund.

Pokémon Go was a global phenomenon, now surpassing 1 billion downloads and bringing in $6.6 billion in revenue for Niantic . Photo: Niantic .

According to Bloomberg , Scopely agreed to acquire Niantic's video game business for $3.5 billion .

Niantic is an internal startup of Google, separated when the company restructured into Alphabet in 2015. This is the company behind the game that caused a worldwide fever, Pokémon Go, which was launched in 2016.

In addition to Pokémon Go, Scopely will also acquire the titles Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now, along with the teams that developed those games.

Pokémon Go was a global phenomenon, now with over 1 billion downloads and $6.6 billion in revenue for the company. However, Niantic has not been able to replicate the success of its other virtual reality titles like Peridot or Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

Meanwhile, Scopely was acquired by Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), in 2023.

A year later, Savvy CEO Brian Ward said he was planning to add a flagship title to the portfolio and saw it as a spearhead of their mobile gaming investment strategy.

In addition to Pokémon Go, the highest-grossing virtual reality game of all time, Niantic has also developed other products, including tools that help users capture and share 3D images of real-world locations.

According to the company, the data generated through the applications has contributed to the construction of a large-scale geographic model, capable of comparing and connecting similar locations around the world.

Source: https://znews.vn/cha-de-game-pokemon-go-ban-minh-voi-gia-3-5-ty-usd-post1537737.html