Sometimes…you can’t help but wonder when greed will stop winning out in various business transactions and ideas. There have been rumors circulating for a while about Pokemon Go and its developer, Niantic. Specifically, there were talks that the gaming division could be bought up by Scopely, which is a Saudi Arabian-owned company. One that are the overseers of games like Monopoly Go (which has ads all over the place so people will try it) and Marvel Strike Forrce. Niantic made official tweets and a blog post confirming this transaction, which resulted in $3.5 billion being spent to get them.
Today we’re announcing changes at Niantic that will set us on a bold new course. We have reached an agreement for Scopely to acquire Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now, and the incredible teams working on these experiences. And we’re spinning off our pioneering…
— Niantic (@NianticLabs) March 12, 2025
Now, in the blog, one of Niantic’s long-time veterans claimed that Scopely wouldn’t be “hurting” the game but helping it:
“I have every belief Pokémon GO will further flourish as part of Scopely, not only into its second decade, but for many more years to come, under the mission of discovering Pokémon in the real world and inspiring people to explore together. Our new partnership, along with our decade long partnership with The Pokémon Company, means we can maintain this long-term focus. Scopely fully believes in our mission and ongoing goal to create the best Pokémon GO experience possible. Their focus will be to support our team, providing resources to continue delivering the gameplay you all know and love.”
That’s nice to say, and Scopely had a similar “vision” in a post of their own, but fans aren’t amused with their “PR Talk.” On both Twitter and Reddit, fans are already livid about this and the fear of the game becoming even more microtransaction-heavy than it already is. That might sound like fearmongering, but Scopely’s track record with microtransactions is “poor” at best.
Fans will just have to wait and see what happens…and hope that the inevitable doesn’t occur.
