According to this information, Savvy Games Group has put about 3.5 billion dollars on the table to get the Niantic video game division. The agreement that is being negotiated not only contemplates the acquisition of the Niantic development team, but also encompasses the mobile games that has taken the market including Pokémon Go and Monster Hunter Now. In addition, Niantic is responsible for Pikmin Bloom, a game based on the Nintendo franchise where they are won, and Peridot, a title for augmented reality mobiles inspired by Tamagotchi. They are all mobile games and free-to-play.
When Bloomberg has contacted Niantic and Savvy Games Group both companies have preferred not to comment. If the negotiations crystallize the agreement could be announced in the coming weeks.
The main asset of Niantic is Pokémon Go, a game released in 2016 that has been able to generate annual average income of 1,000 million dollars. However, when Niantic tried to repeat the formula with other global intellectual properties he did not find success. Titles like Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and NBA All-World ended up closing their servers a couple of years after launch. Following these fiascos Niantic has suffered layoffs and canceled games to focus on Pokémon Go.
For its part, Scopely is dedicated to developing mobile games and its most recent success is Monopoly Go, a title free-to-play which managed to enter the 2,000 million dollars in 10 months. In 2023 Savvy Games Group bought Scopely for 4.9 billion dollars. This company owned by the Saudi Arabia Sovereign Fund has many more interests in the video game industry. For example, it is the largest foreign Nintendo investor, bought 96 % SNK, has participations in Take-Two and Electronic Arts and in 2022 it acquired Esl Gaming, one of the largest organizers of Estports events.