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Scopely, the Saudi developer who is running behind Hit Mobile Game The monopoly of going!And he agreed to obtain a $ 3.5 billion deal to gain Pokémon Go A handful of other applications from Creator Niantic, which is pivotal to focus on artificial intelligence.

Pokémon Go It became a sensation overnight when it was launched in 2016, as it appeared as one of the most popular and profitable mobile games while she was also a pioneer in a new type of “augmented reality” application that puts digital characters on the real world pictures when watching it through the smartphone camera window.

It is still one of the highest mobile phone games today, with 30 million monthly players spent more than a billion dollars last year through Niantic games.

The SCOPELY deal, which is acquired by the owned Saudi Arabia A group of intelligence games In 2023, compared to $ 4.9 billion, a total audience for more than 500 million players, led by great success The monopoly of going! The application was the second highest portable game last year, according to the AppMagic App Store researcher, where the players spent an estimated $ 2.2 billion.

“We are very inspired by what [Niantic] Tim Operen, the chief revenue employee in Scopely, said that TEAM has built over the past decade, as he presented innovative experiences that capture a wide and durable world audience and people come out in the real world. “I have provided few games in the world, a range and longevity Pokémon GoAnd that reached more than 100 million players last year. “

San Francisco -based Niantic, which was Attribute For the Google Appointment Unit in 2015 and value At a price of $ 9 billion in 2021, it sells its own games to Scopely at the same time that a new unit focuses on “Ai Geospatial Ai”, to develop the “next generation map” of the world that was formed from the photos and site data taken by its players.

John Hank, founder of Niantic and CEO, said his new project, called Niantic Spatial, was working on maps that make the “world clear for machines” from smart glasses to robots. He said: “Niantec builds models that will help artificial intelligence bypass the screen and in the real world.”

Scopely will continue to share some players ‘data from their games as part of a $ 50 million investment in Niantic Spatial, which will also be affected using 200 million euros from the previous parents’ budget.

The current investors of NINTIC-including Nintendo, Google, Coature and IVP- will receive $ 3.5 billion of returns from sale, as well as 350 million dollars previously on the company’s public budget, and they will also become contributors to the AI ​​offer.

For cunning, the deal is the latest step in the plan of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to make the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a global center for games. The plan started in 2022 when the government revealed a national strategy for games and electronic sports, with the sovereign wealth fund for the Kingdom in charge of achieving this goal as part of the country’s efforts to diversify its economy away from relying on oil revenues.

The General Investment Fund has allocated approximately $ 40 billion to make the Kingdom a force in games and build a local industry, with plans to establish 250 games companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and create 39,000 jobs by 2030. The smart people are seen as the main car of these aspirations. A series of deals, including taking risks in Nintendo, electronic arts, and Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive.

The country has also hosted the main video game championships in recent years. The latest of these events came last summer when he hosted the Electronic World Cup, with more than 500 teams competing for a group of prizes more than $ 60 million.

The Saudi batch is expected to continue in video games, as the Kingdom was appointed to host the first Olympic Games for Electronic Sports in 2027 after the country signed a 12 -year deal with the International Olympic Committee last year.