How Pokémon Go developer Niantic's games stack up ahead of a potential Scopely acquisition

As rumours swirl around the potential sale of Pokémon Go developer Niantic’s entire mobile games catalogue to Savvy Games Group-owned Scopely in what could be a $3.5 billion exchange, the industry can only wait with bated breath for confirmation or denial of this potentially seismic shift in ownership.

But the wait also provides some breathing room to reflect on Niantic’s portfolio of games, spearheaded by Pokémon Go.

It's the biggest game in Niantic’s library by far, but in the years since Go’s release, the developer has also carved out something of a niche with location-based games using Japanese intellectual property.

While Go is the multi-billion-dollar phenomenon of the bunch, Monster Hunter Now has been a roaring success in its own right, meanwhile Pikmin Bloom has started quietly plucking up millions.

AR stomping ground

Over the past decade, Niantic has generated $8.9 billion in gross player spending across its mobile games portfolio, with 95% of that sum having been earned by Pokémon Go.

The figure comes according to AppMagic data, estimating App Store and Play Store spending across Niantic’s games – ongoing and shuttered. Any additional revenue from alternative stores and web shops isn’t included.

As Niantic now incentivises Pokémon Go and Monster Hunter Now players to spend on items, bundles and more via its web shops, the company’s true earnings are likely even higher.

Even so, this $8.9bn figure over the past 10 years is no small feat. Pokémon Go accounts for $8.5bn of it.

Though it’s finally slipped from lofty heights of over $1bn per year, Pokémon Go still made another $796.6 million in 2024 and recorded its best weekend in seven months just last weekend – making more over two days than Ingress has in a decade.

2023’s Monster Hunter Now has generated $276.1m in just under one-and-a-half years, landing as the company’s second most lucrative game to date.

While the title has been a success in its own right, with enough players to follow the Pokémon Go formula with in-person paid events like Carnival 2024, the game still only accounts for 3% of Niantic’s in-game player spending this past decade.

Furthermore, its revenue has declined considerably since launch, down from $42.6m in October 2023 to just $5.8m in February 2025, its worst month yet.

Even the record-breaking release of Capcom’s new main series game Monster Hunter Wilds hasn’t shaken up Now’s earnings, with just one crossover monster added to the AR game so far at the end of a long event quest.

Pikmin Bloom, on the other hand, has been blossoming in recent months with its best performance ever in December 2024.

With $79.4m in lifetime revenue, the flower-growing game may have contributed less than 1% of Niantic’s mobile game earnings, but it’s still the dev’s third-biggest game and increased its revenue by 65% year-over-year last December.

Pikmin Bloom made $4.4m to finish off 2024, meaning its record high is still less than Monster Hunter Now’s record low, but at least the money’s moving in the right direction.

Outside of the top three, Niantic’s library gets more varied with some of its own IPs.

Ingress Prime is the fourth-biggest active game in the portfolio with $18.5m spent in-game, though it made just $3m in 2024. The original Ingress predates Pokémon Go as a 2012 title, but Prime has leveraged learnings from the monster-catching flagship to rework its gameplay design.

Even so, the title has yet to surpass the now closed Harry Potter: Wizards Unite in lifetime revenue. The once highly anticipated follow-up to Pokémon Go, leveraging one of the world's largest IPs, accumulated $39.8m before it was shut down.

Another original work, Peridot, rounds out the top five for Niantic’s active games portfolio but ranks sixth overall with just $4.1m in lifetime player spending. $3.5m of that was earned in 2023, as monthly revenue has slipped below $15,000 per month since October 2024.

Along the AR road

The AR location-based mobile games space has been mired by numerous failed projects over the years, whether from Niantic or anyone else. Even a major brand like Harry Potter couldn’t land on its feet, and neither could Minecraft with Minecraft Earth. The latter lasted for just two years before shutting down in June 2021.

Then there was the likes of Niantic’s now-closed Marvel: World of Heroes, which barely ranked for revenue during its three-month run in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

Pokémon Go appears to be lightning in a bottle for the AR genre. But Niantic has continued on its path as an AR developer, building tech and games throughout the years. Though it hasn’t caught Go-level lightning twice, it has managed to find new sparks of success elsewhere.

Other companies have found mixed degrees of success in the genre. Square Enix's Dragon Quest Walk has generated $2.1bn since its 2019 release, with 99% of its revenue coming from Japan, and it even outperformed Go in the country in 2023.

Next Games' The Walking Dead: Our World also made $57m over its lifetime, while Ludia's Jurassic World: Alive is still going with $227.9m since 2018.

Disney is also making moves into the AR location-based space with Disney Step, which released in select parts of Asia - including Japan - on March 3rd, 2025. It's been developed by Japanese studio Drecom.

The common denominator for the most successful AR games appears to be those utilising a Japanese IP and finding success in that franchise's home market.

How Scopely and Savvy Games Group manage Niantic's portfolio remains to be seen. The deal could be motivated by prestige for Savvy Games Group owning one of the world's top games, tapping a globally known entertainment brand with Pokémon Go. 

But if the deal includes the studio's entire mobile games lineup, it'll be interesting to see how Savvy and Scopely invest in the portfolio and what the future holds for these titles.