Where exactly are your Pokémon wandering off to these days? Probably to Saudi Arabia. In a massive $3.85 billion deal announced this March, Scopely purchased Niantic‘s gaming division, including the wildly popular Pokémon Go.
The kicker? Scopely is owned by Savvy Games Group, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Yeah, that Saudi Arabia.
Follow the money and you’ll find the Saudi PIF pulling the strings behind your favorite digital monsters.
This means the location data of over 100 million active players worldwide just changed hands. Every place you’ve caught a Pikachu. Every gym you’ve battled at. Every single step you’ve taken while playing. All that juicy location info is part of the deal.
And let’s be real – that’s a lot of data.
The companies haven’t been particularly forthcoming about what happens to your information now. Sure, they’ve made vague promises about maintaining a positive player experience, but details about data handling? Crickets. The silence is deafening.
Niantic isn’t completely out of the picture. They’re keeping Ingress and spinning off an AI mapping business called Niantic Spatial, which will continue using Pokémon Go data for geospatial modeling.
Scopely is even investing $50 million in this venture. Cozy.
Scopely has a reputation for aggressive monetization. Get ready for more opportunities to spend real money catching digital monsters. Lucky you.
The bigger issue? A foreign government now fundamentally controls a treasure trove of location data from millions of users worldwide. The deal also requires regulatory approval before it can be finalized. The acquisition also includes Campfire and Wayfarer apps, which facilitate real-world meetups and location mapping. What could possibly go wrong?
The geopolitical implications are significant, raising questions about data sovereignty and international relations.
This deal highlights the immense value of location-based gaming and geospatial AI. For Saudi Arabia, it’s another step in their growing tech investments.
