r/TheSilphRoad • u/PhDExtreme • Feb 19 '25
Discussion Even if it's not Scopley, It's obvious that Niantic is getting ready to sell.
Sorry for any formatting/grammar mistakes, I'm currently on mobile.
I've been a long time F/P2P gamer for a lot of different IPs. Most notably RuneScape. The people over at /r/2007scape know this all too well, we are actually getting ready to change ownership AGAIN đą.
Whenever a company is in talks with potential investors/buyers, they make the product a lot more enticing by estimating the revenue that the game can bring in. RuneScape is known to add more microtransaction in RS3 and raise membership prices right before another sale. Have you noticed anything similar happening in Pokemon Go?
Yep, the recently announced schedule for the new season... In which EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND has a paid ticket event. And multiple weekends in which we have a community day followed by a raid/max day đ”âđ«.
Saturday, March 8, 2025 (Community Day)
Saturday and Sunday, March 8â9, 2025 (Max Battle Weekend)
Sunday, March 16, 2025 (Catch Mastery)
Saturday, March 22, 2025 (Community Day Classic)
Sunday, March 23, 2025 (Raid Day)
Saturday, March 29, 2025 (Research Day)
Saturday, April 5, 2025 (Raid Day)
Sunday, April 6, 2025 (Hatch Day)
Sunday, April 13, 2025 (Raid Day)
Saturday, April 19, 2025 (Max Battle Day)
Sunday, April 27, 2025 (Community Day)
Saturday, May 3, 2025 (Raid Day)
Sunday, May 11, 2025 (Community Day)
Saturday, May 17, 2025 (Shadow Raid Day)
Saturday, May 24, 2025 (Community Day Classic)
Sunday, May 25, 2025 (Max Battle Day)
The 3.5B is probably an ask that needs data. I can see the sale going through at the end of May, which also coincides with the end of Q2. They'll get half a year of revenue estimates with the inclusion of Go Fest and all these paid tickets (including the new battle pass).
Niantic is in a perfect position to have their cake and eat it too. All this time Niantic was building their AR map. Pokemon Go was just a means to that end. They've probably realized that the amount of money going into development was not worth the effort.
Right now on their site you can buy their services. If you wanted to make a pokemon go clone, you can do that... For a price.
https://www.nianticspatial.com/
When this sale goes through, Niantic can charge the new owners to continue using Niantic maps. What are the new owners going to do? Switch? They can't. There is no alternative. So not only does Niantic get a part of the 3.5b from the sale, they also get money from the monthly usage of their services.
Fucking G move. But also like... Damn...
Not saying we should protest and not buy any tickets, do what you want with your money. But if a sale does go through, be prepared to be the product (more so than we already are). We are going to get milked until the buyer gets their money back and then milked some more so they can sell. Pokemon Go is on the path to becoming a financial investment for companies instead of a video game.
God speed, gotta catch this Yveltal Hundo before I get an ad roll mid catch.
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u/Equality7252l USA - Wisconsin Feb 19 '25
I was foolish enough to think "Runescape/Jagex is sacred, they won't be touched/sold" and then.. Yeah.
So while these are rumors, I've still got a healthy amount of concern
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u/misaliase1 Feb 19 '25
Hello fellow wisconsinite,
Yeah the Jagex private equity ownership is one of the worst types possible. I work in finance and private equity/hedgefund groups will eviscerate anything for a couple of extra bucks. When I read the most recent RS drama I didn't follow ownership of Jagex but it was obviously a private equity play.
Once games hit the market in this category it's a brutal spiral. I'm really disinterested from playing pogo knowing where this is going to be honest.
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u/Princep_Krixus Feb 19 '25
Wait. What has happened to my beloved?
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u/Winter-Donut7621 Feb 19 '25
A lot, but my favorite one was testing how the playerbase would feel about ads in game for a paid membership account.
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u/Maleficent_Cap_9610 Feb 20 '25
Can't forget charging a premium for customer support for a game that has nearly non existent customer support
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u/Leozilla Feb 19 '25
It would only take $4000 from each of us to buy the game. Then we could pay everyone back by the end of the year.
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u/Oofpeople Africa Feb 19 '25
Time to found a company called "TheSilphRoad" and us fans have a 100% share of the company, meaning we decide what we want after the purchase.
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u/Kuliyayoi Feb 19 '25
And how would you fund the development and fees?
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u/Oofpeople Africa Feb 19 '25
Hopefully there are business experts and game developers in this subreddit
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u/bl0ndean1mal Feb 19 '25
Making a meme coin
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u/Happyjitlin69 Feb 20 '25
Buneary Coin anyone??? đđ
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u/RWLXXII Feb 20 '25
Caterpie with a cowboy hat coin
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u/Happyjitlin69 Feb 20 '25
No but see that would be too good. Wurmple with a party hat anyone???
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u/Foonghost Feb 20 '25
now i am strongly against crypto but i dont think i could resist a party hat wurmple coin
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u/always-stressed7782 Feb 20 '25
You should market to the Singaporean grandmas. Many of them are rich retirees with nothing to do with their money.
...I'm serious, many of them are pretty rich. To them, $4000 is petty change! Imagine that, pitch to them that they get to own a stake in the game which they obsess over. Maybe in exchange they get their own private gyms to hoard all they want or something...
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u/scoops22 Feb 19 '25
I'd genuinely invest that much in private shares on just about any Pokemon branded product. The brand is a license to print money
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u/Yoshi_630 Feb 19 '25
I have 2 kidneys and only need 1 count me in.
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u/MFCJOSH Feb 19 '25
Funny you say this I have 3 đ€Ł 2 that don't work and a transplanted one!
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u/Sebelzeebub Feb 19 '25
This feels like Nintendo/The Pokemon Company needs to intervene especially considering itâs their IP.
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u/bouchey Feb 19 '25
I myself am curious what kind of contract it is and where the pokemon company does/doesn't have a say.
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u/doopy423 Feb 19 '25
100% they get to vet any potential buyers. The pokemon ip is their most prized possession.
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u/Schwermzilla Feb 19 '25 edited Feb 19 '25
Saudi's PIF, the parent company of Savvy gaming group & Scopely, has a multi-billion dollar stake in Nintendo, and is one it's largest investors.
So I doubt Nintendo will do anything. MAYBE the Pokemon Company
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u/thefierybreeze Eastern Europe Feb 19 '25
tpc has Tencent developed games, i doubt they care anymore as long as it prints money
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u/luoyianwu North America Lv. 49 shiny hunter Feb 20 '25
I think having Tencent developing games is an effective way to reach Chinese players due to the complicated censorship process and limited video game licenses
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u/Kuliyayoi Feb 19 '25
a multi-billion dollar stake in Nintendo
What is that as a percentage
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u/Schwermzilla Feb 20 '25
Potentially 3-5% not sure, I do not believe any controlling shares or board positions. But as a company, you won't ignore that large of an investor.
From some of the articles I have seen, it appears to be around a 3-4 Billion investment value. Nintendo trades at a market cap of around 90 Billion.
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u/bi-cycle Feb 20 '25
7.5%
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u/Schwermzilla Feb 20 '25
Where did you see that?
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u/burd- Feb 20 '25
not OP
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savvy_Games_Group
under subsidiaries and stakes
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u/CruciatusCrescendo Idaho Feb 20 '25
Nintendo also owns 32% of the Pokemon Company. And I believe some amount of Creatures who are one of the three companies that jointly own the Pokemon Company. Itâs not a hundred percent clear. Thereâs lots of slightly different versions of the numbers floating around on the Internet, but itâs possible Nintendo has a functional controlling interest in the Pokemon Company. And at the very least, they have quite a lot of control.
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u/alucardoceanic Feb 20 '25
My worry is that surely it's already had to go through The Pokemon Company before any of this information was revealed to us.
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u/mattrock99 596 6766 2363 - Lvl 50 - DarthKramer828 - Polar Feb 20 '25
What information has been revealed from legit resources? At this point everything feels like "trust me bro".
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u/ohmygodnewjeans Cymru, UK Feb 19 '25
Does Nintendo still take letters? I know they used to be pretty good at replying to fanmail, perhaps we should draft some sort of template letter that the community can use to voice their concerns.
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u/yeahburyme Feb 19 '25
They are an owner of Niantic, they will vote and will vote to sell. Companies care about money and nothing else. Let's not forget TPC is responsible for half the nonsense people blame Niantic for.
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u/mattrock99 596 6766 2363 - Lvl 50 - DarthKramer828 - Polar Feb 20 '25
If it's not directly gameplay related I assume that TPC makes the decision, and Niantic will accept the blame on behalf of TPC because they're the contractor.
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u/twinncharged Feb 19 '25
I'm worried abt how the buyer would manage events. Will they even bother putting an effort cause events like wild area, city safari or go fests would need proper planning from the dev team and such. They literally have no connection with pogo and is completely new to it and the game was not even available in SA until recently
Apart from the micro transactions they might introduce what else would they do to the regular gameplay and events
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u/matthewormatt Feb 19 '25
In fairness these are things that frequently get complained about present day with Niantic at the helm, especially events not seeming worth the amount they cost nowadays.
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u/dave5104 Feb 19 '25
Honestly, if Niantic does sell off PoGo, I think live events are dead. They felt very "Niantic" in a sense that Niantic did them because they were in pursuit of getting people to go out in the world. It's very unlikely for the buyer to have that same mentality. No other mobile game dev is going to want to put in the effort of putting on live events that don't generate much revenue.
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u/FSElmo435 Feb 19 '25
Iâll be honest if live events stop, Iâd actually be quite sad. Some of my better memories have been travelling in the UK and Europe for Go Fests and Safari Zones. Hope weâre jumping to conclusions though
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u/MysticDragon722 Feb 19 '25
Only of you could afford to travel the globe. I...am not one of those lucky people.
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u/cybersonic233 Feb 19 '25
This right here. Some of the fondest memories of my adult life have been going to the live events esp GO Fest London.
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u/InsaneNutter UK & Ireland Feb 19 '25
Go Fest London was peak Pokemon Go for me. I'm glad I got to experience an in person Go Fest with some of the people I've played PoGo with since the start in 2016.
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u/zhurrick Feb 19 '25
Thatâs the thing, people complain about the remote raid cap or in-person raids being difficult without a community, but Scopely will most likely run PoGo like all of their other apps: a couch game with heavy pay-to-win mechanics.
My highlights of playing PoGo have always been the community elements. A company that doesnât understand that or care about it is not good news.
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u/VerainXor Feb 19 '25
It's unlikely that they will buy the game and then immediately change it away from its successful model to one that is high risk to change to.
I think they'll add more p2w though, that's easy money for a dev these days. But I doubt they'll go outrageous with it. f2p pokemon players are much more valuable than f2p players in other games.
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u/zhurrick Feb 19 '25
A lot of us play this game with a long-term view. I agree that things will likely remain status quo in the initial months, but I wouldn't be surprised if they take a nosedive in six months to a year.
It's not just transactions but the overall vision. Niantic has always positioned itself as an AR-focused, community-driven company, even if theyâve made some questionable decisions. Scopely, on the other hand, has an awful track record when looking at their acquisition history.
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u/CryptographerTiny569 Feb 20 '25
Niantic was only community driven because it made the data more valuable. It was never about âthe gameâ or âthe communityâ it was always about the data. Everything was just a means to that end and now it seems their at that end and would rather just move on.
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u/Larkstarr GTA Feb 19 '25
Niantic wanted people to go out to gather more GPS data, it was in their interest to do so.
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u/whorlycaresmate Feb 20 '25
No company buying the game really needs people to move around like niantic did. They needed the mapping. Even with lack of revenue, it brought them value in that that it wonât bring whoever buys it. My guess is that thatâs probably dead.
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u/TheToug Feb 19 '25
Pop-up icons that will offer some temporary buff if you watch an ad. Like... 15min of Incense if you watch an ad. Random fire-type encounter for watching an ad. 10 Poke Balls/5 Potions/etc for an ad. Etc.
1000% if you run out of Premire Balls to catch a Legendary you will now be offered to watch an ad for +3-5 Premier Balls.
Ads, ads, ads. Oh, and a 'remove all ads' IAP that costs $15...monthly.
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u/sdrawkcabsihtetorW Feb 19 '25
I've literally never seen this behaviour outside of glorified browser games that are meant to generate as much income as possible in their first few months before they get repackaged again under a different theme to do the same thing. I severely doubt the Pokemon Company would allow anyone to do that to a Pokemon game.
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Feb 20 '25
Is there any precedent for ads inside other pokemon games? Ive played a handful, and none of them were monetized with ads. TPC might forbid this because they dont want to take the chance of inappropriate ads being slapped on top of their IP.
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u/TheToug Feb 20 '25
A sizeable chunk of free to play games has those kinds of ads, with a few exceptions. PoGo is one of those exceptions. I suppose it depends on the restrictions TPC will put on Scopely when it comes to ways they can monetize Pokemon Go.
For the record, I hope none of what I said gets implemented. I, like many others, just don't have high hopes for this potential sale.
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u/Raiton_Chidori Feb 19 '25
There was never ads in Pokémon Games. I think at some points The Pokémon Company will just step in and told them what to do or not.
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u/rquinain #1 Psyduck Enthusiast Feb 19 '25
You're not wrong, but also, don't forget that PoGo has those "sponsored message" balloons that you can turn off at will. Which are kind of ads, but also completely in the user's hands whether or not they want to have them visible, and also they give a small free bonus when you click on them.
I don't think they have those godforsaken AR balloons anymore. I don't think I ever did one, even if I wanted to because it was so buggy/laggy. But case in point, even the "ads" in PoGo, to the game's credit, blend seamlessly into the game environment and aren't invasive/predatory.
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u/Remarkable_Ad2032 Feb 20 '25
Well... Honestly I would watch an add for 5 more chances to catch a 100iv legendary lol
(already had one flee before)
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u/TheToug Feb 20 '25
Yup. Same. I had a hundo Necrozma flee during Gofest last year. Still bitter.
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u/ju_free96 Feb 19 '25
It's a shame nintendo doesn't seem to have interest in PoGo. Their monetisation of (mobile) games has been different but in my opinion very fair.
Yeah I guess the whole BDSP and scarlet/violet graphics and performance things were poorly handled. But up to this date we still don't have microtransactions, or season passes for cosmetics or pay2win in any of the pokemon games.
Ok...and then there is UNITE....
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u/NiceNCozyCouch Feb 19 '25
The general assumption is that Game Freak makes the bad decisions and is eager to rush games. PokĂ©mon is the only big Nintendo franchise on which they donât have all rights.
Nintendo treats their other big franchises better. Mario is a bit of a cash cow, but look at Zelda. Itâs killing it, especially on the Switch. Metroid fans are so much the last few years and Splatoon is doing amazing as well.
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u/Durzaka USA - Midwest Feb 19 '25
That is not the general assumption, and I dont know what gave you that idea.
We have no information of whether Game Freak is happy with the pace of development.
But what we DO know is that Pokemon is a well-oiled machine of a franchise. And the games are only a small fraction of it (and MOST of that fraction is from GO, believe it or not). And games need to come out on a strict schedule, because if games don't come out, then TCG doesnt come out, then the anime doesnt come out. And no Anime/TCG also means no plushies, T-Shirts, and other merchandise.
Game Freak is a bad developer (for 3D games in particular). But the rush job surrounding Pokemon is most definitely directly from TPC, and not Game Freak or Nintendo.
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u/bi-cycle Feb 20 '25
Yeah, Nintendo has the publishing rights (so they set deadlines and budgets) and also has the controlling share of TPC. The rush jobs aren't the fault of GF.
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u/eli5questions USA - Northeast - LVL50 -Data Collection Feb 19 '25
Nintendo franchise on which they donât have all rights...Nintendo treats their other big franchises better
Which is odd seeing as Pokemon is one of the largest media franchises (being THE largest is highly debated) and Nintendo would have more incentive to and push GF/Creative to treat the IP better. Assuming a 3-way split (most certainly not the case), Pokemon would still be 3x more revenue than Mario for Nintendo. PoGO alone is not far off Mario games in revenue.
While GF has done a poor job with rushing recent MSGs, they do "care" and there is a sliver of hope that GF sticks to their historically tight control of the IP and won't let it become known as a gotcha game. This sale is nothing if they pull the license. But they let Niantic take it this far so it's just a sliver of hope
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u/Sirenato Feb 19 '25
Nintendo seems to want the "sure thing" so it's easier to license out the IP & let others take risks.
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u/KlaymenThompson Feb 19 '25
Is PoGo not a "sure thing" at this point?
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u/rquinain #1 Psyduck Enthusiast Feb 19 '25
It could be, but how it's been mishandled (whether by Niantic alone or by TPC's say-so in what Niantic does) honestly makes it a bit unsure, in my unprofessional opinion.
There's definitely a winning "forever game" formula in the concept of PoGo but the fan sentiment towards the game has been trending downward for several years now so who knows.
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u/cybersonic233 Feb 19 '25
Nintendo itself doesn't have a stake in GO or any Pokémon mobile game aside from the ones that are also on Switch. This actually caused Nintendo's stock to balloon then crash fairly hard once the market realised they have no part in GO in 2016.
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u/deadtoddler420 Feb 19 '25
Nintendo owns a third of TPC so they do actually have a stake in Go. https://www.serebii.net/pokemon/companies.shtml
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u/ShackShackShack Feb 19 '25
All of the legendary releases have def been a bit out of character. They are def stacking desirable pokemon in a short time frame to sell more passes and tickets. It'll be a shame if the game does fall off because of a sell, but I guess I no longer have to spend random cold winter days trying to raid for big events lol
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u/Nikaidou_Shinku DMax Suicune NO-WB Solo Feb 20 '25
To be honest, I really should focus on my work more and play less. It would be a shame though since I would likely be extremely physically inactive without this game.
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u/ShackShackShack Feb 21 '25
You can still go for walks lol. Just enjoy the sunlights and surroundings.
And yeah looking back, I only battle in ML, but damn it can take 1.5 hours to finish all the sets. I could have played a REAL game with that time lol.
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u/candyofcotton Feb 19 '25
I've never really bothered with Pokemon Home - but I think I will start to, regardless of whether or not this deal (or anything similar to it) goes through. I've played since the beginning so my box is kind of like a historical record for me. I can look at a favorited pokemon in my box and recall memories of that time when it was caught.
It definitely has made me more conscious of how ephemeral these kinds of games can be, and I'd like to keep that history. Of course, Pokemon Home is also a cloud service so it's not much better in that regard. But it will have to do in the interim.
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u/DrKoofBratomMD Feb 19 '25
At the very least if Home starts to shut down you can transfer your pokemon out into the cartridge games theyâre compatible with
Depending on your collection there may be collateral damage, but at the moment the only pokemon truly stuck in Home are I think Furfrou and the elemental monkeys
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u/WeedleLover2006 Heliolisk, Feraligatr, & Sc*pely deserve to be nerfed Feb 19 '25
And Patrat, and Alolan Rattata
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u/Lunalatic LV 48 Mystic Feb 19 '25
A-Rattata is in Let's Go, but that's the only Switch game it's compatible with
As for the remaining Pokemon stuck in Home, I'm cautiously optimistic that Legends Z-A brings back the Patrat line and elemental monkeys because XY were the last games they could be caught wild. Since Furfrou is a shoo-in, the big question for it is whether the trims can be deposited in Home from Z-A without resetting
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u/madonna-boy Feb 20 '25
you can transfer one directly into lets go via the go park but if it hits home first (from go or bank), you can no longer send it to LGPE.
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u/which_objective Feb 19 '25
If Niantic sells pogo, will they just shut down? They don't have any other successful games, right?
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u/PhDExtreme Feb 19 '25
They never started out to be a video game developer. They spun off from Google as a AR Maps company. That's why Pokemon Go was so crucial to their success. It helped build their actual product.
https://www.nianticspatial.com/
With this sale, not only do they get 3.5B but the new owners have to use their services to keep the game alive. Niantic will continue to get paid from pokemon go for their AR map service.
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u/zhurrick Feb 19 '25
Niantic themselves are up for sale. If Scopely buys Niantic, itâs almost guaranteed there will be layoffs. Leadership will probably be overhauled, with Scopely execs stepping in to make sure Niantic follows their business model.
Culturally, this would be a massive shift. Niantic has always positioned itself as an AR-focused, community-driven company, even if theyâve made some questionable decisions. Scopely, on the other hand, is all about mobile gaming profitability. That means more aggressive monetizationâhigher-priced event tickets, further restrictions on free-to-play mechanics, less community-based and more couch game.
As for Nianticâs other projects (Ingress, Peridot, etc.), theyâre either getting deprioritized, sold off, or quietly shut down.
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u/VerainXor Feb 19 '25 edited Feb 19 '25
Niantic themselves are up for sale.
Doesn't seem like it, all the news says their games division is up for sale, not the company themselves.
Edit: Also no one knows what will happen if the games division is sold off, but the games division 100% includes Ingress and Peridot, both of which are video games. Why would they shut down a profitable game like Ingress? Is Peridot profitable? I have no idea, but if it is, why shut that down? Unlike Harry Potter, which came with a pricey license, these IPs are 100% homegrown Niantic.
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u/ArtsyRabb1t Feb 19 '25
FTP games all end with a âthrow spaghetti on the wall and see what sticksâ phase and we are definitely in it
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u/ZoninoDaRat Feb 19 '25
When Monster Hunter Now released the Extreme Hunters Pass, I thought it was a sign the game was on its way out. Now I'm wondering if it's to help drum up more money before they sell.
And with so much upcoming monetisation in pokemon Go, those thoughts are only reinforced.
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u/Retsameniw13 Feb 19 '25
Iâm anticipating quitting playing. Itâs been enough of a grift the last couple years. These companies suck. They are unethical and I hope they collapse completely.
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u/Mustaaaa LVL50 | Valor | NL Feb 19 '25
'ad roll mid catch' LMAO
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u/KlaymenThompson Feb 19 '25
If it's a shiny, no more 100% catch rate. Each ad you watch adds 10% to your catch rate.
Base catch rate is -200%
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u/swampertlvl Feb 19 '25
If PoGo starts injecting random ads it will kill the game. At least 100% for me it will.
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u/StadsAlv Feb 19 '25
Have you seen the balloons? Sponsored stops?
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u/lt08820 Feb 19 '25
Think when people complaining about ads it's the ads that require you to watch it for 10-30s. Sponsored stops are super passive to a point that if you have a go+ you don't even see them. The balloons while still an ad are no different than a "Watch this 5s ad to get bonus items". Still an ad but you have to go out of your way to view it and you get something out of it.
The fear is if it becomes "Beat a raid and you need to watch a 30s ad to get to the catch screen". Raids are an integral part of the game so the ads would be more intrusive than the other 2 ads currently in the game.
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u/swampertlvl Feb 19 '25
Balloons are optional, sponsored stops are a direct benefit if anything. Im moreso talking about pop ups/forced interaction based ads
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u/Canadianboy3 Feb 19 '25
Not the type theyâre talking about, https://youtu.be/oH_d1vTHKz0?si=OXWsq8e-JU3NY5lQ
This is one of their games, get bombarded with pop ups on opening game, and Iâm sure can add more to periodically pop up. I havenât played golf clash in years but I think they had pop ups and that instantly killed the game for me.
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u/Jwarrior521 Feb 19 '25
Sponsored stops benefit the player. I could care less if a business pays for a stop.
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u/DickWallace Feb 20 '25
I would much rather watch an ad to get a raid pass or something than to spend money.
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u/Lightning1999 Edinburgh Scotland Feb 19 '25
My motivation to play has been completely decimated because of this. I naively assumed Niantic would keep this up for another 4-5 years. What a curveball
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u/ohmygodnewjeans Cymru, UK Feb 19 '25
This is the first day since I started playing again in November I've not bothered to go out and play, even missing raid hour. Why should I bother if I don't know the game will even vaguely resemble itself in 1-3 months' time? I only opened the game today to start the lengthy process of cashing out to Pokemon HOME.
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u/TheSRTgreg USA - Midwest Feb 19 '25
Can I ask a dumb question of what do people get out of HOME? I kinda get that you can move mons in and out of MSG games but is that it? I don't really get why that's valuable to people and would like to hear your experience, especially if GO is about to become crap and that's my only recourse to save my collection.
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u/Theinternationalist Feb 19 '25
HOME is a utility whose sole purpose is to help people hold on to their collection instead of having them strewn across several places, like Let's Go, Sword&Shield, Scarlet&Violet, Go, Pokemon Legends Arceus, etc. When you transfer the monsters from Go (or Let's Go) to Home you can't send them back, but you can transfer them to anywhere else.
So yeah, people are afraid that those shinies they got and the others they prize will be stuck in GO, or transfers will require payment as opposed to the current stamina method.
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u/Siria110 Feb 20 '25
Plus also there is the fact that Pokemon games (at least the mainline ones) donÂŽt have cloud save. Which means if your game gets damaged or savefile corrupted, you will lose not only your progress in the game, but also all the Pokemon in it. And given the fact that you can theoreticaly have Pokemon in there from all the way back generation 3, it could be huuuge loss. I myself still have in my HOME my first ever event Pokemon, Mew from generation 4 from event in 2010, meaning itÂŽs 15 yo. It went with me across all the generations, and I would be devastated if I lost it. Just like my first ever shiny, Beldum (Metagross now), that I randomly found in Platinum also way back around 2010.
Now all my most important/prized mons are in HOME, where they are safe.
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u/Siria110 Feb 20 '25
Plus also there is the fact that Pokemon games (at least the mainline ones) donÂŽt have cloud save. Which means if your game gets damaged or savefile corrupted, you will lose not only your progress in the game, but also all the Pokemon in it. And given the fact that you can theoreticaly have Pokemon in there from all the way back from generation 3, it could be huuuge loss. I myself still have my first ever event Pokemon, Mew from generation 4 from event in 2010, meaning itÂŽs 15 yo. It went with me across all the generations, and I would be devastated if I lost it. Just like my first ever shiny, Beldum (Metagross now), that I randomly found in Platinum also way back around 2010.
Now all my most important/prized mons are in HOME, where they are safe.
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u/01001101010000100 Feb 19 '25
For me the only reason I play Go is to feed into my Home account. But if you don't play any of the main series games then yes I can see why Home has no apparent value. But for me my living national dex and my (almost complete) shiny national dex is all in Home. I've spread my hunt across Go, the main series games, and also a lot of trading (both in Go and using Reddit for Home trades). So for me it's kind of the complete opposite I suppose. Like I'm using a shiny Eevee I caught in Go originally and playing through one of the games and getting attachment to the pokemon that way, now that it's on a full shiny team I'm using to beat a game.
So Home by itself it just a trading and storage tool, but also the goal of filling it has made a lot of other games and even playing Go on my daily dog walks more fulfilling.
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u/scoops22 Feb 19 '25
I just quit OSRS cause the private equity company in charge is planning to ruin the game with trash monetization and it demotivated me from investing time into my character cause I felt like the long term prospect of the game was looking grim.
I return to Pokemon go and the same thing might happen...
Either I caused this or enshittification is truly everywhere.
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u/zott_23 Feb 19 '25
This sort of instability is exactly why I stopped spending money on POGO.
I donât have faith in the longterm viability of the game under its current management, and it sounds like theyâre about to sell to someone much worse.
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u/OobeBanoobe USA - Pacific Feb 19 '25
I don't think I'll be getting a Go Tour ticket now unless we get some solid news that shines a little light on the situation.
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u/Mumps42 Feb 19 '25
I really hope that Scopely is just speculation. I get that they are huge, that they have the money, that they are connected to Niantic.. But if it's them, then I'm out. I'd rather have just about ANY mobile game maker take over. Yes, I know there are worse ones, but Nintendo & The Pokémon Company will only allow them to do so much damage to the game regardless of who gets it, so.. No matter who ruins it, can it just.. Not be Scopely?
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u/Moatorboatin USA - South Feb 20 '25
My theory is that the article was posted to drive up the cost for TPC to come in and buy it for $4 billion. A published negotiation thatâs an âalmost saleâ makes me think itâs them just driving up the price for the actual buyer.
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u/Mumps42 Feb 20 '25
I can't claim to know anything about stocks and big corporate purchases, so all I will say is.. I hope you're right.
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u/Ferahgost Feb 19 '25
Time to start the long process of transferring shinies & Legendaries
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u/ah1332a Feb 19 '25
newbie Q - assuming you mean transferring to Pokemon Home then transferring to other games, what console do you have/what other Pokemon games do you play? iâve gotten back into the game this year (orig started in 2016) and iâm hoping to get into other games - and save my shiny pokies :/
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u/Ferahgost Feb 19 '25
For now Iâll just leave them in as I havenât really played any of the console games in a while now, although I am planning on getting back into them now with the new reward of some shiny mythicals for completing some of the different PokĂ©dexâs in Home.
To answer your questions- a switch and Iâve played them all besides the original D/P (grew up alongside the games and that would have been when I was high school).
For the newer games that I would recommend? Legends: Arceus is a neat spinoff that isnât crazy long, and if you enjoy shiny hunting then Scarlet/Violet is by far the best for that. Sword/Shield has great way to shiny hunt the all of the legendaries (all previous gen legendaries included) in the DLC with Dynamax Adventures.
And hell, if you want something different, New Pokémon Snap is a phenomenal 10-20 hr game
Basically, just avoid Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, itâs âŠ. Not great.
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u/WillTendo92 Feb 20 '25
BDSP had the best NPC AI in all the games. Love the E4 and gym leader rematches
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u/NarutoSakura1 Maryland Feb 20 '25
BDSP had the strongest NPC enemy AI in all the games, but were the worst games as remakes. There was literally nothing new that wasn't copy-and-paste from Diamond and Pearl. They didn't even do Platinum version stuff for the remakes. And they limited the Pokedex to only go from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Not even any of the mons from Unova onwards were included. And lack of any new post-game content besides the PalPark area and the Grand Underground just made it worse.
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u/Hutch456 Feb 19 '25 edited Feb 19 '25
Why would they sell in the first place? Does Niantic not realize they can make so much more money by lowering the price of remote passes and removing the remote limit? Are they stupid? Am I stupid?
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u/Kadem2 Feb 19 '25
Theyâre an AR company who obviously despises the game theyâve made as the players keep pushing for less and less AR quirks lol.
Iâm sure Hanke would love to get paid and stop worrying about PokĂ©mon.
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u/Theinternationalist Feb 19 '25
No one I know uses the AR quirks in catching or battles, and Dynamax doesn't even use AR at all.
Not great for a game that's supposed to prize it.
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u/Nikaidou_Shinku DMax Suicune NO-WB Solo Feb 20 '25
To be honest they could have made AR more attractive
Old AR was faster to catch a Pokémon so people used it
For the new one, they can give an additional catch bonus like beast balls so people would consider using it on legendaries
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u/DreadfuryDK New Jersey - Instinct LVL 39 Feb 19 '25
Does Niantic not realize
No, they donât. Niantic has been physically incapable of realizing a darn thing since 2016.
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u/book_of_armaments Feb 19 '25
For any revenue stream, there is a present value sum that you should be willing accept in lieu, because you can take that money and invest it elsewhere. If you look at how annuities are priced, an annuity that pays $100k every year for 100 years will be worth almost the same amount as an annuity that pays $100k for 200 years. Those extra 100 years of payments are so far in the future that their present value is negligible.
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u/zhurrick Feb 19 '25
Not 3.5 billion lol.
Thereâs also been studies showing that even though people are remote raiding less, the increase in price balances it out.
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u/odette115 Feb 20 '25
I wish DeNA could take over, bur doibt they have the funds to. Their handling of Pokemon Masters and Sleep have made them one of my favorite mobile game companies...
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u/NarutoSakura1 Maryland Feb 20 '25
Too bad DeNA didn't handle Final Fantasy Record Keeper too well to keep the Global version running, yet the JP version is still ongoing
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u/kummostern Feb 19 '25
on another post there where few people replying something like "niantics ticketed events failed to gain extra revenue and thus they are now selling"
but i didn't agree with that statement... it might be true maybe but i find this runescape 3 path be far more likely outcome where they actually do get more money from events boosting the estimated value so they'd get better price thru the trade
2022, 2023 and 2024 revenues seem all be similar (651, 687 and 672 million dollars)... which to me seems like there was no noticeable rise nor was there drastic drop either (which all these 3 years are higher than 2016 and 2017 but lower than the peak years of 2020 and 2021)
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u/Zapph Feb 19 '25
If the app stores' revenue is at a similar level to 2022, they must be making a scary amount of profit then, since a lot of purchases are now going through their website instead, and with a higher profit margin.
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u/repo_sado Florida Feb 19 '25
Exactly. The event tickets were a strategy to bring up short term revenue in order to sell high.
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u/jmledesma USA - Southwest Feb 19 '25
Theyâre not going to let us mass transfer our shinies out, are they?
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u/Lanky_Second_2382 Feb 19 '25
I started to transfer mine out a few years ago, I've always had this fear that my shinies would be lost if something were to happen to pogo, unfortunately, I haven't transfered often enough and I'm really not confident in niantic to let us mass transfer
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u/-PM_ME_UR_SECRETS- Feb 20 '25
Thereâs no way they would do that. Theyâll increase the cost to transfer before removing the limit. Allowing an easy exit for the player base would not fly for any potential buyer.
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u/Canadianboy3 Feb 19 '25
I donât touch Rs3 but Osrs and I know the history, funny I was thinking best/worst case scenario if they sell is that they ruin it and then we get an Osrs style restart of Pogo but it wonât happen. Osrs is a special thing.
Obviously with the news itâs too late for in person events because youâve already planned and bought tickets but I am curious if this affects the global tour sales. Two different ways of looking at it, why buy when the game imo is surely dying if sold or one last hooray before it ends.
Itâs been getting worse for sure but Ninantic is definitely the lesser evil here. More tickets is annoying and egg locked releases piling up but the game still is very much f2p achievable. I buy bigger tickets but most of these even while only being couple bucks are worthless.
Iâll leave this link here, I donât play Scopleys other games but these are the ads that could and would be incorporated into Pogo, even if the app didnât crash multiple times a day thatâs an easy no from me.
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u/JulySummerDay Feb 19 '25
I mean, if theyâre selling the company, they obviously donât believe it will be around x amount of years. So theyâre cashing out while they still can. As a day one player, this really sucks. Itâs time to start preparing for life after PoGO go. I didnât think it would be this soon. Everything comes to an end, I suppose.
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u/-Resputin- Feb 19 '25
I have two shiny melmetals.
I just transferred the one with worse stars to home just as a precaution since PoGo is basically the only way to get one.
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u/ArcticWolfl Feb 20 '25
The sale might be the reason why Shiny Meltan is the reward for dex completion in Home; TPC doesn't expect PoGo to be a way to receive it for much longer and is gonna implement an update to the existing games to evolve it?
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u/kingzta88 Western Europe Feb 19 '25
There was event every single weekend this season as well?
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u/PhDExtreme Feb 19 '25
I'm getting the impression that they're aggressively selling these tickets by having some weekends have both a community day and then raid day. I don't think I've seen that before?
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u/CaptainRickey Feb 19 '25
Calling it now: they're gonna kill the golden egg laying goose. They expect a big sale boosting their one-time yearly revenue then they'll be disbanded as a company. Because ultimately google has no stake to be gained in gaming, no interest in the mobile industry and no actual investments into this franchise.
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u/Similar-Soup-3320 Feb 19 '25
At least if this is true we are likely to get more desirable pokemon in the short term. Mew two coming back anyone?
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u/Cometstarlight Feb 19 '25
I'll take a rerelease of armored Mewtwo
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u/EnvironmentalSun2716 Feb 19 '25
As compensation for the game being run into the ground? Doesn't seem an entirely fair exchange.
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u/zhurrick Feb 19 '25
Monkey paw: You get your Shadow Mewtwo Raid Day, but the game becomes overrun with unskippable video ads and a micro-transaction every time you want to capture a shiny.
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u/schwarzmalerin Feb 19 '25
If someone actually buys Pokemon Go, how would that work with the stops and gyms on the map? That is Niantic data. And how would "Niantic AR" continue to work? These are the 2 main features of this game.
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u/Lunalatic LV 48 Mystic Feb 19 '25
That's the neat thing. Niantic can continue making money off the game after the sale by making the new owners pay for continued access to their map data and AR service.
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u/KrewOwns Feb 19 '25
Niantic is selling their gaming division but not their AR/Geo division. So essentially they will be selling the game and the game's base AR/Geo service on top of it. Whether they are charging as a subscription or it is included in the 3.5b it is not known.
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u/schwarzmalerin Feb 19 '25
So crucial data will not move to Saudi Arabia? I find that concerning TBH if that happened.
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u/Ultrarandom Kiwi Beta Tester Feb 19 '25
Already transferring shinies to home to sort out my shiny living dex on there. Ready for this game to get run into the ground if it does sell to anyone.
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u/s4m_sp4de don't fomo ïŁż do rockets Feb 19 '25
good points, BUT: niantic's strongest months in sales are during (northern hemisphere) late spring and summer. the time where other games struggle the most, because people go outside. GoFest and Ultrabonus events with highly wanted raids and high remote raid numbers are way more important than the ticket sales during winter.
i'm pretty sure they could sell the game way better during late summer than now or early spring.
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u/Regunes Feb 19 '25
So... You tell me leaving the game some week ago was the right choice ?
Time to transfer on home....
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u/aznknight613 Feb 19 '25
I think the thing a lot of people don't seem to realize is that even if Niantic ends up not selling, the game will continue to get even more monetization because they are clearly not making as much as they need from it.
So in the end, the monetization tactics are going to go up no matter if they sell or not. The only question is how much worse.
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u/SwimminginMercury Returning for a look around Feb 19 '25 edited Feb 19 '25
I always though someone like a mobile Daybreak Games would end up running PGo but I though Niantic would drive it into the ground a little more and the sale would be "selling into maintenance mode".
I'm 50/50 on the schedule through, Niantic (and maybe TPC) were the ones being bull headed about remotes and holding back stuff like Mega MewTwo's/Metagross and Arceus. Just opening the books on the Primal Raid weekend could be enough; I doubt Scopley will be using Nianitc's monetization blueprint. Also I think March is always an outlier because they're always chasing the YoY revenue loss from the remote pass limit
... But that run of Raid Days is sus.
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u/Impossible_Ad_8304 Feb 19 '25
Why do you think there is no alternative to their Lightship database?Â
We saw with Powerspots that Lightship was not needed. There was also no need for Lightship when Niantic used external databases to spam India, Turkey and Brazil with poi.
Whether Niantic's database is higher or lower quality than other databases is debatable and how Go would function without access to Lightship is debatable but there are alternatives.
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u/krispyboiz 12/12/14 Keldeo..... | 12 KM Eggs are the worst Feb 19 '25
While I definitely agree that next season seems very packed, is it really THAT much more packed than usual?
Yes, there are some weekends with TWO events, which I definitely think is pushing it, but we've also had several events the past year or so that have had events every weekend or every weekend but 1, so this isn't that unusual
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u/BCHiker7 Feb 19 '25 edited Feb 20 '25
When this sale goes through, Niantic can charge the new owners to continue using Niantic maps. What are the new owners going to do? Switch? They can't. There is no alternative. So not only does Niantic get a part of the 3.5b from the sale, they also get money from the monthly usage of their services.
This is highly speculative and probably wrong. First of all, the in game map is just a processed version of OpenStreetMap. It is nothing special at all. Not really worth anything. Secondly, I could easily see the pokestops and gyms go with the sale. That remains to be seen. What is being reported is that Scopely could buy the entire games division, not just pokemon go. That would mean they get Wayfarer, Ingress, Campfire... the whole thing. It would become completely detached from Niantic.
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u/Impossible_Ad_8304 Feb 20 '25
The overworld map uses OSM.
Pokestops and gyms are Wayspots in Niantic's Lightship database. They would have to license that from Niantic to keep those or populate the map with another external database.
Wayfarer is not part of the 'gaming' section. I don't think they will be selling it off anytime soon tbh
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u/BCHiker7 Feb 20 '25
Very easy to make a copy of the pokestop/gym data. In fact, many people did until Niantic started handing out the cease and desist orders.
As for Wayfarer, maybe, maybe not. We shall have to wait and see. I could see it going either way, I guess. ie, who will maintain the wayspot database? They would have to work that out. But for $3.5 billion I don't see them being reliant on Niantic in any way going forward.
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u/Impossible_Ad_8304 Feb 20 '25
So it's easy to copy it but they wouldn't have any legal rights to do so or use it.
There is no pokestop/gym data, there is the Lightship database.
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u/A_Crazy_Hooligan Feb 19 '25 edited Feb 19 '25
You can probably add the fact they have stopped accepting coins and are now charging actual money for some of these tickets and boxes to the list of potential evidence.Â
Edit: lmao at the replies. Maybe I miss-remembered, but the overall point doesnât change.Â
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u/PicklesAnonymous TEAM ROCKET Feb 19 '25
How does your point still stand when it was wrong to begin with?
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u/bbressman2 Feb 19 '25
At this point Iâm just playing this game to get mythical and rare shinies. I know it can get worse than it is but I wonder how much control TPC has in this situation.
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u/Chris-Zerox_512 Feb 19 '25
Is there a genuine concern that we could have in game ads? Such as trying to catch a wild shiny Galarian bird but then,whoopsies, a 30 second unskippable ad that takes you to another page?
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u/JULTAR Gibraltar Instinct LV 50 Feb 19 '25
People in here talking about how the game is gonna become pay2win due to power creep thanks to ScopleyÂ
When really that was unavoidable even if the game never changes handsÂ
Those who are not convinced let me introduce you to fluttermane/roaring moon and garchomp somehow being UU of all things while terrakion chills in NU despite them both being tier destroying threats in their primeÂ
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u/PhDExtreme Feb 19 '25
It's about quality and that comes with the commitment to supporting a game. With a game only having ONE owner, the owner is responsible for financial growth and the happiness of the player. There's always room for a middle ground. The players can protest, go on social media, make SOME difference. If it's keeps changing owners, no company is going to care enough. They'll make the minimum amount of changes, milk their player base just enough to make the product viable for a sale.
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u/TreGet234 Feb 19 '25
Master league is pay to win anyways. No way can a f2p player get a meta squad of maxed out legendary/shadow pokemon.
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u/samfun Feb 19 '25
First 2 or 3 years for sure, but ever since we got guaranteed 3xl from in person raids it's not even too crazy to get 296xl in one rotation f2p
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u/zhurrick Feb 19 '25
Literally impossible.
Even if youâre getting 8 XL per raid (3x guaranteed and 5x from catch, usually you get less though) it would take 37 raids to max something out. Thatâs 19 days of raiding twice per day, when rotations usually last a week.
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u/dark__tyranitar USA | Legacy 40/50 | Shinydex 760 Feb 19 '25
Not with that attitude lol. It can be done my friend, but you need to walk, a lot.
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u/AnotherFriendlyAcct Feb 19 '25
I am so NOT buying Jersey City Go Fest tickets until I get more information about the event and this transaction.
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u/pikachu519519 Feb 20 '25
perfect time for the switch 2 and pokemon title - save your money on crap mobile games with new provider
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u/FrostGiant17 Feb 20 '25
If it is scopely, definitely be ready to be spending just to stay caught up. Gonna need to start collecting shards just to get a new pokemon.
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u/Salty_Airline3358 Feb 20 '25
Scopely would be horrible Everybody would quit the game and they'd be left holding the bag. Imagine buying a company that has a community and saying paywalls and ads are going to be a good thing. It would tank.
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u/PrincessAngelina31 Feb 20 '25
Can they even sell it without pokemon approved since they donât own the ip?
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u/alucardoceanic Feb 20 '25
So realistically, how unplayable does this game become? I feel like I'm seeing too many exaggerated doomer takes on this and it's hard to determine if this is actually time to quit.
Too many shinies get paywalled, transfer all legendaries and banner ads become the norm comments but is any of this realistically going to be implemented after Niantic sell it off?
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u/MEDES_X Feb 20 '25
It is always better to wait and see. You have nothing to lose.
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u/alucardoceanic Feb 21 '25
Thanks, I've just been swept up by all this talk and getting worried. I only have two shiny legendaries and even though I don't play the mainline games I'd love to save them in pokemon Home if the worst happens.
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u/Similar-Soup-3320 Feb 19 '25
Don't forget remote raiding opening up a lot more. As much as people love it it goes against their previously stayed long term plans. And it absolutely would juice their revenue in the short term.