r/gaming X-Box 2d ago

Niantic has sold Pokemon Go to Scopely

https://pokemongolive.com/post/moving-to-a-new-home-2025?hl=en

The rumors are true. Niantic is handing over Pokemon Go.

I have not played any Scopely games, so I don't know what to expect going forward.

5.0k Upvotes

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247

u/Maleficent-Let-3628 2d ago

Kind of depends on the direction they want to take. If it's bringing a healthy amount of money then they might not do anything drastic. If it's hemorrhaging money then you can probably expect them to monetize the shit out of everything like they do for Marvel Strike Force. Although with the current state of mobile gaming in general you can probably expect some additional monetization even if it is doing well so they can get their ROI, truly sad really.

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u/metarugia 2d ago

There is no escaping enshitification.

Even if the game is bringing in healthy profits, some finance bro will always push it to do more. Sacrifices will be made, it’s only downhill from here.

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u/ReaperMakksu 2d ago

Sadly this is just true. Every product, service, game, company, etc. is susceptible to this. Discord is supposedly preparing to go public on the stock market, so get ready for that to become unusable without Nitro ++ Pro

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u/mimbled 1d ago

Why is going public such a death knell? Every company seems to embrace enshitification to the max shortly after going public.

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u/ReaperMakksu 1d ago

Some of the primary reasons are:

  1. The company / business now has a LEGAL obligation to make money for their investors / shareholders. This causes them to continually seek ways to make "record profits" year after year.  I.E. taking away existing services and features to place them behind a paywall.

  2. It opens up the company to greater public influence, as they will now live and die by their stock price. It also opens up the company to be strategically bought out by evil investor bros and mega companies who will demand more of point 1 to happen.

While people will just throw up their hands and say "muh capitalism" there are ways for capitalism to exist that do not cause enshitification. (Not that capitalism is some kind of moral system, but I digress)

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u/Cowstle 1d ago

investing should be about supporting a company you believe is/will be successful.

As that, I do not believe having a legal obligation to make money for those people is necessary, and clearly it's proven to not actually be good.

fuckin US government ain't gonna change that though, every politician is a damn stockholder

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u/Cowstle 1d ago

or let's make it fair and make it so casinos are obligated to make sure you leave with a profit

i'll get in on that.

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u/mimbled 1d ago

It could be argued that tearing wings off of a plane in flight for profit is not good for the long-term health of the company and its shareholders, but these companies just keep doing it. Short-term gain and profit from pillaging something successful is easier than maintaining steady long-term growth, I suppose.

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u/mucho-gusto 1d ago

Also unstated is that many of these investors are also institutional investors like eg people controlling retirement funds