Niantic, Maker of ‘Pokémon Go,’ Reportedly Selling Gaming Division to Prioritize AR and Mapping Technology

Niantic, the brains behind the 2016 sensation Pokémon Go, is reportedly in negotiation with Scopely, a company owned by Saudi Arabia, to sell off its gaming division.

Sources familiar with the matter, as reported by Bloomberg, suggest that the two companies are hashing out a deal that might see Scopely acquiring Niantic’s gaming assets for a whopping $3.5 billion. If all goes smoothly, the deal could wrap up in the coming weeks.

The potential agreement would see Niantic handing over not just Pokémon Go, but also its other mobile titles, including Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom. While Niantic struck gold with Pokémon Go, its Harry Potter: Wizards Unite didn’t quite capture the same magic and was eventually shuttered in 2022.

Should this sale come to fruition, Niantic, based in San Francisco, would pivot more sharply toward developing its augmented reality (AR) technology and geo-spatial tools. Back in May 2022, Niantic rolled out the Lightship Visual Positioning System. This tech constructs a 3D map of the world, allowing AR devices to sync up with the same real-world coordinates on a grand scale.

Later that year, Niantic revealed its collaboration with Qualcomm to create an AR headset based on the Snapdragon AR2 platform, which was touted as an “outdoor AR headset” at the time.

Although Niantic hasn’t ventured into launching hardware itself, last September, it teamed up with Snap. This partnership was set to deliver the AR pet game Peridot on Snap’s fifth-generation Spectacles.

In the months that followed, Niantic introduced Into The Scaniverse, a WebXR app integrated with VPS. Developed using Niantic Studio, this app enables users to capture and explore real-world locations in 3D on platforms like Meta Quest.

If Niantic parts ways with its gaming segment, it seems likely the company will fully commit to AR innovations. Leveraging tools like VPS, the Niantic Studio, and their Niantic Spatial Platform SDK would become the main focus, pushing the frontiers of augmented reality technology.