Niantic offloads 'Pokémon Go,' game division to Scopely in US$3.5 billion deal

Image: Niantic

Niantic, the developer behind Pokémon Go, has sold its gaming division to Scopely, a mobile game company owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, for US$3.5 billion. The acquisition includes popular titles like Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now. This move signals a significant shift for Niantic, which will now concentrate on its geospatial technology and artificial intelligence mapping initiatives under the newly formed Niantic Spatial.  

Click to read more ...

Niantic tests new feature to speed up 'Pokémon Go' Raids

Image: Niantic

Niantic is testing a new feature that will speed up Pokémon Go Raids. The "Ready to Raid" button will let players in London, Osaka City, and Suita City skip the long wait time and start the Raid in 10 seconds. This applies to both in-person and Remote Raids. Niantic shared a gif of the feature on Twitter/X:

"We're testing a 'Ready to Raid' button in the London, Osaka City and Suita City areas. Trainers participating in Raids in these areas will be able to tap a button above their Raid Party to skip to a 10-second Raid countdown. This includes Remote Raids hosted in these areas."

Click to read more ...

Niantic is working on a 'Monster Hunter' augmented reality mobile game

Image: Niantic

Niantic is taking the magic of Pokémon Go and bringing it into the Monster Hunter universe. The company collaborated with Capcom to create a "real-world hunting action RPG" called Monster Hunter Now. The gameplay is similar to Pokémon Go and the now-defunct Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, where you can team up with friends and strangers to play and use materials you gather to craft weapons and armour. 

The game will be free-to-play with in-app purchases. It will feature a simplified combat similar to Pokémon Go, with you tapping and swiping on your phone. You can fight in portrait or landscape to replicate the experience on PCs and consoles. While versions of those games have battles that last over five minutes, the maximum battle time on mobile will be 75 seconds. Niantic is now accepting sign-ups for its closed beta testing, which starts on April 25. If there are no issues, Monster Hunter Now will launch sometime in September.

Source

Niantic debuts Campfire AR messaging app for its titles

Niantic wants its users to stay within its ecosystem and chat with others playing the same games. And so, the company debuted a new social AR app called Campfire. This will let you converse with other Niantic games' users in the simplest terms. You can do things like organize for events, find new locations, and share content with other players. The company built it entirely for augmented reality. It's already live for Ingress, and it'll be coming to titles like Pokemon Go in the summer.

Source