Danica Davidson
February 19, 2025 
Pokémon Go might soon have new owners. That’s according to a report at Bloomberg, which spoke with employees at Niantic Inc., the owner of the game.
None of the employees wanted to publicly share their names, and it was also acknowledged that the deal might fall through. It’s also noteworthy that Niantic and Scopely have chosen not to release any official statements at this time, but Bloomberg seems to trust the anonymous employees enough to go forward with their article. It’s reported that Scopely Inc., which has Savvy Gamers Group as a parent company, is interested in purchasing. Savvy itself is a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
Allegedly the talks revolve around a purchase price of approximately $3.5 billion (which is even a lot more than the priciest Pokémon card!). If the acquirement goes through, it could happen as soon as the next few weeks. Along with getting Pokémon Go, other mobile games would be sold.
Niantic worked with Savvy last year, inking a contract to aid Niantic’s expansion into Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. This is happening as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is interested in getting more involved with video games to “diversify its economy.”
There is a sizeable fandom for otaku interests in the Middle East, and plans were unveiled for a huge Dragon Ball theme park in Qiddiya, Saudi Arabia. At the same time, not everything otaku is embraced there. For instance, in 2023 the country’s General Commission for Audiovisual Media banned Final Fantasy XVI and complained that Square Enix wouldn’t change the game to meet its requirements. It didn’t publicly share what it found offensive in the game.
No other augmented reality app has been as successful as Pokémon Go, so a sale would be a major business move.
Source: Bloomberg
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
