Scopely and Niantic Confirm Partial Acquisition and Split of Niantic

Scopely and Niantic have officially confirmed plans for Scopely to acquire Niantic's gaming business and nearly all games. Not only assets but entire teams including their heads Kei Kawai and Es Wu will transfer. The geospatial AI business will be transferred to a new company called Niantic Spatial.

Once again, the US news service Bloomberg has proven to be well-informed. In February, Bloomberg reported, with reference to informed sources, that Scopely intended to take over Niantic's games business for 3.5 billion US dollars. Now the deal is apparently done. In any case, Scopley, known among other things for Monopoly Go! and Stumble Guys, and Niantic, which has created Pokémon Go and Monster Hunter Now, among other things, have announced this partial takeover.

Of course, Scopely and Niantic provided further details. Scopely will not only take over the games, but also the teams behind them. The respective project managers will also change companies, including Chief Product Officer and General Manager Kei Kawai and Senior Vice President Pokémon Go Ed Wu.

"Niantic games have always been a bridge to connect people and inspire exploration, and I am confident they will continue to do both as part of Scopely," said John Hanke, founder and CEO of Niantic. "Scopely shares our focus on building and operating incredible live services, has exceptional experience working with the world's biggest and most beloved intellectual properties, and cares deeply about its player communities and game-making teams. I firmly believe this partnership is great for our players and is the best way to ensure that our games have the long-term support and investment needed to be 'forever games' that will endure for future generations."

However, Hanke himself will not be moving to Scopely. Instead, Niantic will lead Spatial. This is a newly founded company into which Niantic's technology platform is being transferred. Niantic Spatial sees itself as a geospatial AI company powered by a next generation map, enabling devices and machines to understand and interact with the physical world.

Niantic Spatial will be funded with 250 million US-dollar of capital, including 200 million Dollar from Niantic’s balance sheet and a 50 million Dollar investment from Scopely. All of Niantic’s original investors will also continue to be shareholders of Niantic Spatial.