San Francisco (AFP) – Mobile games giant Scopely will pay $3.5 billion to acquire Niantic’s game unit, including the studio behind Pokemon Go, the companies announced on Wednesday. The purchase will add Pokemon Go, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now teams to a Scopely stable that includes popular mobile title Monopoly Go.
“We are extremely inspired by what the team has built over the last decade, delivering innovative experiences that captivate a vast, enduring global audience and get people out in the real world,” Scopely chief revenue officer Tim O’Brien said of Niantic. “We look forward to further accelerating the team’s creativity through our partnership.”
San Francisco-based Niantic plans to spin off its geospatial artificial intelligence business into a new company led by founder and chief executive John Hanke. Niantic is known for mobile games that combine real-world mapping and exploration with play by synching challenges or accomplishments with locations detected by smartphones. More than 100 million people play Niantic games, according to the company.
“We spun out as a small team from Google with a bold vision: to use technology to overlay the world with rich digital experiences,” Niantic said of separating from the internet giant in late 2015. “Our goal: to inspire people to explore their surroundings and foster real-world connections, especially at a time when relationships were becoming increasingly digital.”
Niantic sees the rapid advance of AI as an opportunity to put its geospatial technology to work in consumer and business applications along with games. The new company, called Niantic Spatial, is developing a model to enable people and machines to understand and navigate the real world. It will keep some of its augmented reality games including Ingress Prime, and Scopely will be an investor in the enterprise, according to Niantic.
Scopely games include Monopoly Go, Marvel Strike Force, and Star Trek Fleet Command. Scopely said the deal, valued at $3.5 billion, will bring it Niantic’s entire team of game makers.
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