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Who Owns Pokémon GO Now? Scopely Completed Its Acquisition in 2025

Scopely completed its acquisition of Niantic’s games business, including Pokémon GO, on May 29, 2025. Niantic Spatial remained separate with Ingress Prime and Peridot.
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Scopely owns Pokémon GO. It acquired Niantic’s games business, including the game, in a deal announced in March 2025 and completed on May 29, 2025. Niantic’s technology platform was handled separately: it became Niantic Spatial, which retained Ingress Prime and Peridot.

Who owns Pokémon GO now?

Scopely owns Pokémon GO through its acquisition of Niantic’s games business. The deal was valued at $3.5 billion when announced. It covered Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now, Campfire, Wayfarer, and the Niantic games team—not every part of Niantic. Scopely’s announcement set out the transaction and its scope.

When did Scopely buy Pokémon GO?

Scopely announced the agreement on March 12, 2025. The company later updated its announcement to say the transaction closed on May 29, 2025. The announcement date and closing date are different milestones: the game transferred as part of the completed transaction, not merely when the agreement was announced.

What happened to Niantic?

Niantic separated its games business from its technology platform. The games business and its teams went to Scopely. Niantic’s technology platform spun off as Niantic Spatial, which continued to own and operate Ingress Prime and Peridot, according to Scopely’s deal announcement.

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Will Pokémon GO change under Scopely?

Scopely said the Niantic game teams would continue pursuing their roadmaps under long-time leaders, with Scopely providing resources and support. That describes the company’s stated plan; it does not establish that gameplay, staffing, monetization, or future decisions would remain unchanged. Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke said the partnership would provide long-term support and investment for the games. Those are the companies’ views of the deal, not a guarantee of specific future outcomes.

Is the Pokémon GO team still the same?

In a 2026 update, Pokémon GO said the Niantic games team had officially changed its name to Scopely Explore and that the Pokémon GO team remained the same. That is the team’s public identity and its statement of continuity; it does not mean every role or decision is necessarily unchanged. The update also noted that the team was preparing for the game’s tenth anniversary. Read the team update on the official Pokémon GO site.

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What Scopely has said about Pokémon GO’s scale

Scopely has published several figures about the game. They refer to different time periods and measures, so they should not be treated as one continuous or directly comparable set of statistics.

  • In its 2025 acquisition announcement, Scopely said Pokémon GO had more than 100 million unique players in 2024, more than 20 million weekly active players, and sold two million Pokémon GO Fest tickets in 2024. The announcement also cited 40 minutes of average daily playtime and availability in more than 190 countries and regions. These are company-published figures from the 2025 announcement.
  • In a 2026 anniversary announcement, Scopely reported more than $1 billion in revenue in 2025, more than 800 million players inspired to explore since launch, presence in more than 150 countries and regions, and average daily playtime of 45 minutes. These figures are from Scopely’s 2026 announcement.

The country-and-region and daily-playtime figures differ between the two announcements. The company statements do not explain the differences in methodology, so they should be read with their respective dates rather than as a proven change over time.

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Can you still play Pokémon GO for free?

Yes. The official Pokémon GO site describes basic gameplay as available at no cost, with optional in-game purchases. The ownership change does not alter that description. Visit the official Pokémon GO site.

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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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