Niantic Sells Games Business to Scopely for $3.5 Billion
**Niantic Sells Games Business to Scopely for $3.5 Billion**
By Nick Wingfield
Source: The Information
Niantic, the creator of Pokémon Go, is selling its games business to the Saudi-owned mobile developer Scopely for $3.5 billion. In addition, Niantic shareholders will receive $350 million in cash from Niantic's balance sheet as part of the deal.
As part of the transaction, Niantic is spinning out a new company, Niantic Spatial, that will concentrate on artificial intelligence-powered mapping technologies that Niantic has been developing. Niantic Spatial will have $250 million in capital, $200 million of it from Niantic's balance sheet and $50 million from Scopely.
John Hanke, the CEO of Niantic, will also lead Niantic Spatial. Niantic previously started as a project inside Google and was spun out almost a decade ago to develop augmented reality games.