Scopely, known for making Monopoly Go, will also be acquiring other Niantic-run services and companion apps like Campfire and Wayfarer.

Pokémon Go has by far been Niantic’s biggest game; as of 2024, it boasted more than 100 million unique players and maintained a player base of more than 20 million monthly active users. The company reported more than $1 billion in revenue in 2024.

According to the announcement, the studios acquired will continue to run their games and follow their planned content roadmaps. Studio leads Kei Kawai, and Ed Wu will also work on the titles under Scopely.

“Scopely has always been focused on cultivating meaningful communities through a shared love of play, and the Niantic games organization is one of the best in the world at this endeavour,” said Scopely’s chief revenue officer and board member Tim O’Brien in a statement. “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.”

“We look forward to further accelerating the team’s creativity through our partnership. Few games in the world have delivered the scale and longevity of ‘Pokémon Go’, which reached over 100 million players just last year.”

O’Brien also spoke about how Scopely will continue to run things as they have been going for popular titles like Pokémon Go, mentioning its live events.

“The experience also stands apart for its unique ability to foster in-person connections, with Pokémon Go live events attracting millions of attendees,” he said. “After spending time with the Niantic team, it quickly became clear that this organization shares our inclination to create industry-leading outcomes and exceptional player experiences. We look forward to a bright future ahead.”

After completing the acquisition, Niantic plans to spin off its technology-based holdings into an entirely new company, Niantic Spatial Inc. This entity will have Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke at its helm and will focus its efforts on being what it refers to as a “geospatial AI company”.

While Scopely will acquire the licensed games business, Niantic will continue to work on its own AR games, namely Ingress Prime and Peridot.

Capping off the announcement has been Scopely’s statement to players of Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now. In this statement, the company talks about respecting the games and wanting to allow its developers the freedom to continue developing them.

“We have long admired the innovative gameplay pioneered by the Niantic games team and the vibrant communities that have shaped the titles into the beloved experiences they are today. We deeply respect what makes these games special – the freedom to explore, the community forged along the way, and the thrill of discovery,” Scopely said.

“We believe our partnership with the Niantic games team – who will all join Scopely through this acquisition – will further enable them to achieve their exciting long-term goals, which are designed first and foremost with you in mind.”

Much like Ninatic’s successful Pokemon Go, Pikmin Finder will have different kinds of Pikmin that can be found depending on various factors, like location and time of day. Pikmin found by players will then be able to lead the players to finding treasures.

Pikmin Finder can be played through the official website. Being focused on smartphones and tablets, accessing the website on a PC doesn’t start the game, and instead points players to a QR code that can be scanned by any modern smartphone to open up the game on their device.

Gameplay for Pikmin Finder seems rather simplistic, since it just revolves around finding Pikmin and using them to get treasure, and the game seems to currently be little more than an ad for the recent Nintendo Switch-exclusive Pikmin 4. Check out our review of Pikmin 4 for more details.

NBA All-World is essentially an extension of the mechanics present in the ever-popular Pokemon Go, which involves players going out in the world to catch Pokemon and partake in Pokemon battles.

NBA All-World will also feature the fashion that NBA athletes are known for with in-game sneakers and gear drops.

“NBA All-World represents an industry first in sports games, as an original, real-world mobile game that will appeal to casual and core NBA fans alike,” said Niantic senior producer Marcus Matthews in a press release. ​ “We’re creating and designing a game that empowers players to represent where they’re from and showcase their individual style.”

While NBA All-World doesn’t yet have a release date, those interested can sign up on the game’s official website. The game will first be released in limited markets for beta testing, eventually making its way to more markets for the full release.

Pokemon trainers the world over have been catching them all since Pokemon Go launched in 2016, and if you’ve not kept up, Niantic has done a fantastic job keeping the game updated with new content at a steady pace and keeping the community engaged through things like community day events and rotating raid battles for legendary Pokemon. Now, quests are being added to the game that could give players the chance to encounter Mew.

Field Research tasks are common goals such as catching specific Pokemon types and taking part in so many raids, while Special Research Quests are provided by the game’s Professor Willow himself, and with a wider variety of objective, and rewards based on difficulty. Players collect stamps with the first goal they achieve in a day, and once seven are earned the player receives a Research Breakthrough.

The Research Breakthrough can have a variety of effects, but one possibility is the chance to encounter a Legendary Pokemon, with the press release heavily suggesting Mew will be the first such Pokemon to be encountered. Pokemon #151, Mew was the original myth way back in Pokemon Red and Blue, with the monster being normally unobtainable in the game and nobody knowing if it actually existed in the code until Nintendo released it during events.

A lot of the initial hype surrounding Pokemon Go has decreased dramatically since its launch. However, Niantic Labs has now announced that the augmented reality feature of the game will receive an upgrade in the form of AR+ for iOS devices.

The most important aspect of the upgrade is that Pokemon will now scale in size based on the player’s relative distance to them. This will help enhance the level of immersion in a significant way. Furthermore, another new feature will allow players to sneak up on Pokemon to receive a bonus known as “Expert Handler.” If players approach the Pokemon too fast, then a detection meter will fill up and will start flashing red.

As of now, the AR+ update is available only for iPhone 6S or newer devices that are running the iOS 11. It remains to be seen if  a similar feature will be making its way onto Android devices in the future.