Niantic, the company behind the 2016 hit mobile game Pokémon Go, is in talks to sell its business to Scopely, a Saudi Arabian company. Bloomberg reports, citing sources connected to the negotiations.
The deal may be announced in the coming weeks. According to one of the sources, the amount under discussion is about $3.5 billion. Any potential deal would include not only Pokémon but also other mobile games. However, there is no guarantee that the parties will eventually reach an agreement.
Niantic spun off from Google in 2015. Its Pokémon Go game became a global phenomenon, but the company was unable to repeat this success. As a result, it had to cut staff and cancel its other game titles. Niantic is based in San Francisco and produces other products, including tools for taking 3D scans of real places.
Mobile game developer Scopely was acquired two years ago for $4.9 billion by Savvy Games, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. The fund seeks to diversify the country's economy through investments in the gaming industry. At the time, the acquisition became sixth largest deal in gamedev history.
As a reminder, the Chinese company NetEase recently fired the entire team in the American city of Seattle that worked on the Marvel Rivals game, including the management team. However, part of the team in China remained to work on the game.
