Niantic, the corporate behind hit cellular recreation Pokémon Go (2016), introduced the sale of its gaming division to Scopely for $3.85 billion, confirming a earlier Bloomberg report. Moreover, the corporate now says it’s specializing in advancing its AI-powered geospatial expertise and AR tech.
As part of the deal, the Saudi Arabia-owned cellular recreation developer Scopely is taking up a lot of Niantic’s most well-known titles, together with Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now. Unique improvement groups connected to these video games can even transition to Scopely, the businesses say in a press release.
The sale of its gaming division has additionally prompted Niantic to spin off a brand new firm, known as Niantic Spatial, which might be centered on creating its stack of geospatial AI tech, which mixes location-based data with machine studying and AI.
Niantic Spatial goals to construct “spatial intelligence that helps individuals higher perceive, navigate, and interact with the bodily world,” the corporate says, noting it hopes to leverage its geospatial AI and AR tech in enterprise purposes.
The spin-off, which might be led by John Hanke, is being funded with $250 million, together with $200 million from Niantic and $50 million from Scopely.
The corporate says Niantic Spatial will develop AI-driven options for industries like logistics, building, and leisure, because it continues improvement on its current Scaniverse and Visible Positioning System (VPS) expertise.
Acquired from Toolbox AI in 2021, Scaniverse is a 3D scanning software that makes use of Gaussian splatting to create extremely detailed digital fashions of real-world objects and environments. To showcase Scaniverse, the corporate just lately launched Into the Scaniverse (2025) for Quest, which permits customers to scan environments with their telephones and examine them in-headset.
Launched in 2022, the corporate’s Visible Positioning System is a geospatial AI system that allows exact real-world location monitoring and AR navigation, touted for its centimeter-level accuracy. It’s since been built-in into a number of the corporate’s location-based video games, resembling Pokémon GO, Ingress, and Peridot.
What’s lacking within the shakeup nonetheless is any perception into the state of its AR {hardware} efforts. In late 2022, the corporate revealed it was working with Qualcomm on a reference AR headset based mostly on the Snapdragon AR2 platform.
Granted, we haven’t heard something in regards to the reference design since then, which was created to spur producers and different firms to create AR headsets meant for out of doors environments.
Nonetheless, the acquisition indicators a serious shift for Niantic from gaming to geospatial AI and enterprise AR. As an alternative of specializing in recreation improvement, Niantic is doubling down on its Visible Positioning System, 3D mapping, and AI-powered AR platforms, which it hopes to make use of to construct a basis for the subsequent technology of AR experiences.
