When asked whether games like Pokémon Go will see things like advertisements or obstructive game mechanics, like an energy bar that drains every time the game is played, with more energy being available for purchase, Steranka said no. For context, these kinds of things are present in many smartphone games, especially if they’re free-to-play.

“If there’s one takeaway that I would love for people to have from this conversation, it’s that definitively no, that is not happening in Pokémon Go – not now, not ever,” Steranka said.

“Again, Scopely really recognises how unique this game is, and they’ve told us themselves that they would be foolish to try to change the recipe of what’s made this such a huge hit and a success. So yeah, absolutely not. We will not be building into our games any type of obtrusive ads or anything like that.”

“I just really want to reiterate Scopely as a company, the way that they operate is they give all of their teams the agency to make the decisions that’s right for their games. And that is not something that we feel would ever be right for Pokémon Go.”

Steranka also said that, while Scopely will be running the development team for Pokémon Go, the game will not be selling any of the data it collects from players to third parties. He reiterates that the only reason Pokémon Go needs a player’s location data is to make sure that the game runs properly.

“We do not sell player data to third parties, full stop,” said Steranka. “We only leverage location data to operate the game, and we store any location data needed to operate the game on US-based servers, and we follow all of the incredibly strict regulatory best practices to protect that data as best as we can.”

Scopely’s acquisition of the development team behind Pokémon Go, along with the teams working on Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now, was announced earlier this month. Alongside the development teams, Scopely has also acquired the licenses to run these titles.

As for Niantic itself, the company plans on continue running its own AR games, namely Ingress Prime and Peridot. The company plans to spin off its technology-based holdings into a new company dubbed Niantic Spatial Inc. This company will be helmed by Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke.

In a statement released alongside the announcement of the acquisition, Scopely told Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now players that it admires the audience that the titles have built up, and that Scopely wants to continue supporting the developers in making the games how they want.

“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,” said the company.

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.”

Spotted by @mattyoukhana_ on Twitter, digging into mobile title Pokemon GO’s files has unearthed evidence of an upcoming Pokemon Presents celebrations, with references of “Pokémon Presents 2025 x GO Tour: Unova Timed Research” spotted in the strings. That’s likely pointing to an upcoming event in Pokemon GO that will be detailed as part of the presentation.

Given the fact that the last several years have brought a February Pokemon Presents, 2025 following that same trend doesn’t come as a huge surprise. As for what the presentation will bring, that’s anyone’s guess. Presumably, Pokemon Legends: Z-A, which is due out sometime this year, will be the main focus, while The Pokemon Company could also unveil new content for the wildly successful Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket.

Thanks for confirming Pokémon Presents 2025, Niantic: pic.twitter.com/0wjT069t8C

— Matt (@mattyoukhana_) January 8, 2025

Sega, Devolver Digital, 505 Games and Annapurna Interactive are part of the publisher side, but the list of developers is perhaps more surprising. It includes Team Cherry (Hollow Knight: Silksong), Larian Studios (Baldur’s Gate 3), CD Projekt RED (The Witcher 3), Remedy Entertainment (Alan Wake 2) FromSoftware (Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon), and many more.

Interestingly, it also listed companies like Sony, Nintendo, Bandai Namco, Niantic, Konami, DeNA, Square Enix and more for improving its “mobile footprint.” However, based on a filtering process, several companies were excluded from consideration, including publishers that made less than $100 million in annual revenue, had an acquisition price of over $20 billion, etc.

It remains to be seen how this will affect Microsoft’s goal to acquire Activision Blizzard, especially since the FTC believes its actions since acquiring ZeniMax and Bethesda are more than enough reason to oppose the same. Stay tuned in the meantime for more details.

People muse about if Microsoft would ever try to buy Nintendo.

In a 2021 MS research doc about possible acquisition targets, Nintendo was not listed among 100+ companies for console expansion

It was listed among 76 popular app-makers for improving Microsoft's mobile footprint pic.twitter.com/DZqruR6FP5

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 27, 2023

It appears to have been filtered out early on, possibly because Microsoft was ruling out companies that'd cost over $20 billion pic.twitter.com/UDk8wAlGR4

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 27, 2023

However, Pokemon GO developer Niantic has disputed the accuracy of those numbers. In a statement provided to Eurogamer, the company said that the title’s aforementioned revenue estimates are inaccurate, and that its revenues in 2023 are currently trending higher than 2022’s numbers.

“We generally don’t comment on third-party estimates of our revenue as they are often incorrect, which is the case here,” Niantic said. “Our revenue so far in 2023 is up on last year.”

Niantic also added that it tends not to focus on monthly numbers for the game, owing to their generally fluctuating nature, and noted that in-person Raiding in Pokemon GO has seen an uptick since Remote Raids were removed in a controversial update.

Original story follows:

Pokemon GO has been one of the biggest games in the mobile space for as long as it’s been around, and over the course of the last seven years, it’s been a massive money maker on a consistent basis. The last couple of months, however, have seen a downward trend where its revenues are concerned.

That’s as per a report published by Mobilegamer.biz, which reveals that Pokemon GO was the twelfth-highest grossing mobile game worldwide with over $34.7 million raked in. That, however, is down from revenues of $42.8 million March, which itself was down from February’s $58 million revenue. The 40% drop over this period aligns with Niantic’s controversial decision to rework Remote Raids.

Interestingly, as VGC points out, Pokemon GO earned roughly $58 million in revenues on average per month in 2022, which means the last couple of months have seen the game performing well below average. In fact, the mobile title’s April numbers are the lowest it has seen in over years, since February 2018.

Like Pokemon GO, Monster Hunter Now is about encountering monsters in the real world, thanks to augmented reality. As series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto explains, “Monster Hunter Now is a new and unprecedented Monster Hunter game that entices players to go out with their Palico and encounter incredible monsters in the real world.

“Niantic’s AR technology delivers a ‘here and right now’ hunting experience, something that can be played casually, while honoring the game play and hunting action that only Monster Hunter can offer. Let’s get out into the real world and enjoy hunting!”

John Hanke, founder and CEO of Niantic, added, “Monster Hunter Now will be the ultimate experience for anyone who has dreamed of facing off against epic monsters and battling them with friends. Filled with fantastical creatures, engrossing hunting and opportunities for teamwork, with the best possible graphics on mobile devices, Monster Hunter Now is the perfect franchise to bring into the real world.”

You can play solo or team up with others, inviting friends to play and take down monsters. One interesting mechanic is the Paintball. Tag a monster, and you can take it home to hunt. Companions can also mark monsters with Paintballs as you pass by, even if you’re not playing, so you don’t need to check your screen.

Stay tuned for more details on Monster Hunter Now in the coming months. In the meantime, Capcom will unveil the next free Title Update for Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak on April 19th. The expansion also launches on April 28th for Xbox and PlayStation.

Mobile revelation Pokemon GO is refusing to show any signs of slowing down, and Niantic and The Pokemon Company have every intention of continuing to add to the game. During the recent Pokemon Presents presentation, The Pokemon Company announced that on March 1, the mobile game will add Alolan Pokemon to its ever-growing roster, which means players will soon be able to catch species that first appeared in Pokemon Sun and Moon. From now until then, you can catch Alolan Exeggutor in the game as well.

More announcements will be coming as the Pokemon Presents presentation progresses, so stay tuned for those details.

During the event, players can expect to find Wooloo, Skwovet, and Falinks during their travels. Furthermore, Pokemon like the legendary duo Zacian and Zazamenta will be also be available in limited-time raid events. Much of this is the collaboration with Pokemon Sword and Shield, and interested fans should definitely log into the game during the event.

In addition to this Pokemon Go news, a bunch of new information about Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl was also revealed during the event. Fans also got to know more about Pokemon Unite‘s mobile release date, which is launching on September 22 for Android and iOS platforms.

And it’s crossed a pretty major landmark as far as commercial performance goes as well. As per a new report by Sensor Tower, Pokemon GO has raked in over $5 billion in revenue since it launched in 2016, which is up from $2.5 billion a couple of years ago- which should tell you something about the growth it has been enjoying.

The game has generated $1 billion on average each year, and in the first half of 2021, brought in $641.6 million in revenue- which, incidentally, is its best ever start to a year, and up 34% from 2020’s first half (and a whopping 130% from 2017’s first half). The United States remains the game’s most successful nation, followed by Japan, and then Germany.

Pokemon GO enjoyed its best year ever in 2019, and then again in 2020. That growth would have been impressive to see in any situation, but considering the COVID pandemic, it becomes even more so, especially given the very nature of the game (though the developers did make smart alterations to ensure that it wouldn’t be impacted).