Gaming Saudi company in talks to buy Pokémon Go maker By Neil Halligan February 19, 2025, 5:27 PM Alamy via Reuters A Pokemon store in Tokyo: PIF-owned Savvy, pursuing Niantic's gaming division, was a top-two global game developer by revenue in 2024 Potential $3.5bn Niantic deal Augmented reality gaming Continuing acquisition strategy Scopely, a video game developer and publisher owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is reportedly in talks to buy the gaming division of the company that created Pokémon Go. The deal to acquire the video game business of Niantic, a company that develops augmented reality mobile games, could be worth $3.5 billion, according to media reports. Scopely, which is a subsidiary of PIF company Savvy Games, would acquire the Pokémon title as well as other mobile games as part of the deal, sources told Bloomberg, who said the deal could be announced in the coming weeks. Niantic, which was spun out of Alphabet as an independent company in 2015, also develops augmented reality and mixed reality technologies. Its Lightship platform allows developers to create their own AR applications and experiences. In August Savvy signed a deal with Niantic to help it expand in the Middle East and North Africa and establish its regional operations in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt. PIF continues to trim stake in Japan’s Nintendo PIF explores raising stakes in Japanese gaming companies Saudi Arabia plays the long game in a high-stakes market Pokémon Go became a global phenomenon when it was launched in 2016. Using GPS, the game allows players to capture, train, and battle virtual Pokémon that appear in the player’s real-world location. Savvy Games bought mobile-first developer Scopely for around $5 billion in 2023. Its current portfolio includes games based on existing franchises, The Walking Dead, Wheel of Fortune, WWE wrestling and Star Trek, as well as games such as Yahtzee, Scrabble and Monopoly. Scopely was ranked second in the world in terms of game publishers’ revenue in 2024, earning $2 billion last year, behind Shenzhen Tencent Tianyou Technology’s $6.2 billion. Founded in 2011, Scopely recently reached a milestone of $10 billion in lifetime revenue. PIF’s investments in Savvy and Scopely are part of the aim to diversify the Saudi economy and strengthen the country’s gaming industry. Savvy aims to create more than 600 jobs in the gaming industry in the coming years.
