Saudi Funding Fund pays $3.5bn to seize Pokémon Go

Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund (PIF) can pay $3.5bn (£2.7bn) to purchase the gaming division of developer Niantic, whose titles embrace the hit cellular recreation Pokémon Go.

The sport entails gamers strolling round in the true world to hunt the collectable creatures, which seem on their telephone screens utilizing augmented actuality.

Regardless of launching virtually a decade in the past, Pokémon Go continues to be amongst the highest-grossing cellular video games on the planet, with 30 million month-to-month gamers.

The deal marks the most recent step by Saudi Arabia to develop its gaming business, which it has spent billions of kilos on lately.

Niantic’s different video games, comparable to Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom, are additionally included within the acquisition, together with the individuals employed to make them.

They may turn into a part of Scopely Inc – which itself was purchased by PIF subsidiary Savvy Video games Group for $4.9bn in 2023.

Scopely is without doubt one of the largest names in cellular gaming, with its most profitable title, Monopoly Go, being downloaded greater than 50 million occasions and producing greater than $3bn in income.

Pokémon itself is collectively owned by Nintendo, Recreation Freak and Creatures, which licensed the model to Niantic so it might develop the sport.

Ed Wu, who leads the Pokémon Go workforce at Niantic, mentioned in a weblog submit he believed the transfer was “a optimistic step” for the sport’s future.

“Pokémon Go is greater than only a recreation to me, it is my life’s work,” he mentioned.

“I will not say that Pokémon Go will stay the identical, as a result of it has all the time been a piece in progress.

“However how we create and evolve it should stay unchanged, and I hope that we will make the expertise even higher.”

Saudi Arabia is changing into an more and more highly effective participant in gaming.

Its PIF has stakes in a number of the largest publishers within the business, comparable to Nintendo, Digital Arts and Take-Two Interactive.

It has additionally made waves within the eSports business, with Saudi Arabia internet hosting main tournaments together with final yr’s eSports World Cup, which had a prize pool of over $60m.

Riyadh may even host 2027’s deliberate Olympic eSports Video games.

Saudi Arabia’s PIF has lots of of billions in belongings attributable to its oil wealth, which it has been investing closely in sports activities comparable to golf, boxing and soccer, together with a purchase order of Newcastle United in a £300m deal in 2021.

It’s managed by the nation’s prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose authorities has been accused of human rights violations.

A 2019 UN report acknowledged that “the state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is accountable” for the demise of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who was important of the nation’s authorities.

Saudi Arabia has all the time denied this.