After weeks of rumors that mobile technology company Niantic was nearing a deal for its high-profile games, including Pokemon Go, the $3.5 billion sale is public and includes news of an AI spinoff.
Niantic and Scopely, a Saudi Arabia-owned mobile games company with headquarters in Culver City, California, reached a deal to bring Pokemon Go, Monster Hunger Now and Pikmin Bloom to Scopely along with their entire development teams.
In a post about the deal, Niantic said it’s selling three of its “forever games” for $3.5 billion and will include $350 million of its cash distributed to equity holders.
Niantic, which spun off from Google in 2015 as a location-based apps and games company led by Google Maps and Google Earth pioneer John Hanke, will continue but will spin off Niantic Spatial, a new geospatial AI company led by Hanke. Niantic will invest $200 million in the spinoff, and Scopely will invest $50 million.
