Latest news with #Scopely
Nikkei Asia
11-06-2025
- Business
- Nikkei Asia
Pokemon Go's Scopely on the hunt in Japan for gaming M&As
KAZUYUKI OKUDAIRA TOKYO -- Fresh off its acquisition of Pokemon Go's Niantic, U.S. gaming giant Scopely is looking to grow its relations with Japanese peers with lucrative intellectual property (IP) franchises. In an interview with Nikkei, Scopely co-CEOs Walter Driver and Javier Ferreira described their plans to increase investment in Pokemon Go and other games and to expand the company's presence in Japan, possibly through additional mergers and acquisitions.
Time of India
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Monopoly GO Mos Mart event guide - All rewards, milestones, how to play, and more
Monopoly GO Mos Mart (Image via Scopely) After a short break, the Monopoly GO Mos Mart treasure hunt event is back. Following the Fortune Flip minigame, the first June treasure hunt, Tusken Treasures, has arrived. As usual, players need tokens to participate, and to help collect them, a new solo event called Mos Mart is now live. Running from June 4 to June 6, this event offers exciting rewards, including dice rolls, cash, and Tusken Treasures tokens. Below is a complete breakdown of all milestones and rewards. Monopoly GO Mos Mart rewards and milestones Players can unlock various rewards by progressing through the Mos Mart event. Here's the full list of milestones and corresponding prizes: Monopoly GO Mos Mart milestones and rewards Upcoming Events and Daily Quick Wins for June 2nd - June 8th, 2025 #monopolygo #upcomingevents Milestone Points Required Rewards 1 5 3 Dig Event Tokens 2 10 25 Free Dice Rolls 3 15 Cash Reward 4 25 1-Star Sticker Pack 5 50 50 Free Dice Rolls 6 30 4 Dig Event Tokens 7 35 1-Star Sticker Pack 8 40 40 Free Dice Rolls 9 50 4 Dig Event Tokens 10 160 150 Free Dice Rolls 11 50 Cash Reward 12 55 50 Free Dice Rolls 13 65 7 Dig Event Tokens 14 80 2-Star Sticker Pack 15 425 375 Free Dice Rolls 16 70 8 Dig Event Tokens 17 80 70 Free Dice Rolls 18 85 Builder's Bash (15 Minutes) 19 95 Cash Reward 20 685 575 Free Dice Rolls 21 100 10 Dig Event Tokens 22 115 95 Free Dice Rolls 23 110 Cash Reward 24 130 10 Dig Event Tokens 25 1,150 925 Free Dice Rolls 26 140 3-Star Sticker Pack 27 150 10 Dig Event Tokens 28 160 Cash Reward 29 750 575 Free Dice Rolls 30 180 18 Dig Event Tokens 31 190 Cash Reward 32 210 150 Free Dice Rolls 33 160 Cash Boost (10 Minutes) 34 230 Cash Reward 35 1,500 1,100 Free Dice Rolls 36 250 20 Dig Event Tokens 37 300 200 Free Dice Rolls 38 450 Cash Reward 39 1,350 925 Free Dice Rolls 40 325 Cash Reward 41 350 22 Dig Event Tokens 42 375 Cash Reward 43 2,250 1,400 Free Dice Rolls 44 350 Color Wheel Boost (15 Minutes) 45 450 25 Dig Event Tokens 46 575 350 Free Dice Rolls 47 500 Cash Reward 48 3,000 1,650 Free Dice Rolls 49 550 25 Dig Event Tokens 50 450 Mega Heist (40 Minutes) 51 650 Cash Reward 52 1,800 800 Free Dice Rolls 53 700 28 Dig Event Tokens 54 825 500 Free Dice Rolls 55 950 Cash Reward 56 4,500 2,200 Free Dice Rolls 57 500 Cash Boost (15 Minutes) 58 800 375 Free Dice Rolls 59 950 Cash Reward 60 1,400 625 Free Dice Rolls 61 1,500 Cash Reward 62 10,000 5,000 Free Dice Rolls Key rewards in Mos Mart The event features 62 milestones, with some standout rewards: - 5,000 Free Dice Rolls (62nd Milestone) - 15-Minute Color Wheel Boost (44th Milestone) - 40-Minute Mega Heist (50th Milestone) - 15-Minute Builder's Bash (18th Milestone) - Three-Star Sticker Pack (26th Milestone) - 15-Minute Cash Grab Boost (57th Milestone) - Total of 18,205 Dice Rolls - 199 Tusken Treasures Tokens Since Mos Mart is only available for two days, players should act fast to maximize rewards. How to earn points in Monopoly GO Mos Mart To score points in this event, players must land on specific tiles: - Chance (1 point) - Community Chest (1 point) - Railroad (2 points) Also read: Monopoly GO: Jatz and roll rewards and milestones explained Increasing the roll multiplier can help earn points faster. With strategic play, tycoons can maximize their rewards before the event ends.
Time of India
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Monopoly GO: Jatz and Roll rewards, how to get points, and milestones explained
Monopoly go Jatz and Roll (Image via Scopely) Scopely has launched a new Monopoly GO tournament called Jatz and Roll , replacing Hoverboard Havoc. This fast-paced event began on June 4 and runs for just one day, offering players a chance to earn dice rolls, cash, and sticker packs. Below is a full breakdown of all milestones, leaderboard prizes, and strategies to dominate the tournament. Complete list of Monopoly GO: Jatz and Roll milestones The tournament features 40 milestones, each with unique rewards. Here's the full table: Milestone Points Required Rewards 1 10 Three Dig Event Tokens 2 25 40 Free Dice Rolls 3 40 Cash Reward 4 80 One-Star Sticker Pack 5 120 Cash Reward 6 150 Five Dig Event Tokens 7 100 High Roller for Five Minutes 8 225 125 Free Dice Rolls 9 200 Seven Dig Event Tokens 10 250 Two-Star Sticker Pack 11 275 Eight Dig Event Tokens 12 425 200 Free Dice Rolls 13 200 Cash Boost for Five Minutes 14 300 10 Dig Event Tokens 15 350 Three-Star Sticker Pack 16 475 215 Free Dice Rolls 17 350 10 Dig Event Tokens 18 550 235 Free Dice Rolls 19 250 Mega Heist for 30 Minutes 20 400 12 Dig Event Tokens 21 500 Cash Reward 22 775 275 Free Dice Rolls 23 600 17 Dig Event Tokens 24 1,000 345 Free Dice Rolls 25 800 Cash Reward 26 750 18 Dig Event Tokens 27 850 Cash Reward 28 1,200 360 Free Dice Rolls 29 500 Cash Boost for 10 Minutes 30 800 20 Dig Event Tokens 31 900 Cash Reward 32 1,750 500 Free Dice Rolls 33 1,200 Cash Reward 34 1,000 20 Dig Event Tokens 35 750 Builder's Bash for 30 Minutes 36 2,350 600 Free Dice Rolls 37 1,500 Cash Reward 38 3,500 800 Free Dice Rolls 39 2,000 Cash Reward 40 8,500 2,125 Free Dice Rolls Key rewards to target: - Dice rolls: The final milestone awards 2,125 free rolls. - Sticker packs: Earn one-star to three-star variants. - Event tokens: Used in the Fortune Flip minigame. Leaderboard rewards for top-ranked players in Monopoly GO Ranking high on the leaderboard unlocks exclusive prizes. Here's the full breakdown: Learn To Roll Like A Pro In Monopoly Go! #monopolygo #monopolystradegy! Rank Rewards 1 1,500 Free Dice Rolls, Five-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 2 800 Free Dice Rolls, Four-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 3 600 Free Dice Rolls, Four-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 4 500 Free Dice Rolls, Four-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 5 400 Free Dice Rolls, Three-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 6 300 Free Dice Rolls, Three-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 7 200 Free Dice Rolls, Three-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 8 100 Free Dice Rolls, Two-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 9 100 Free Dice Rolls, Two-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 10 50 Free Dice Rolls, Two-Star Sticker Pack, Cash Reward 11-18 50 Free Dice Rolls, Cash Reward 19-35 Cash Reward Top players earn high-tier sticker packs and massive dice roll bonuses, making competition intense. How to earn points in Monopoly GO: Jatz and Roll Points are awarded for landing on Railroad spaces and triggering these actions: Shutdown points - Blocked: 2 Points - Successful: 4 Points Bank Heist points - Small: 4 Points - Large: 6 Points - Bankrupt: 8 Points Also read: Asmongold Shakes Up Streaming: Multistreaming on X, Kick, and Twitch Begins June 2 Quick tips to maximize points: 1. Target Railroads: They're the fastest way to climb milestones. 2. Use Multipliers: Higher multipliers (e.g., x10, x20) yield more points but risk dice. 3. Check Milestones: Focus on rewards you need most (e.g., dice rolls vs. tokens). With only 24 hours to compete, efficiency is crucial.
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Pokemon Go Made Niantic Billions. Now It's Ditching Gaming For AI.
Walking through Niantic's headquarters in San Francisco's historic Ferry Building, visitors are greeted by a scrum of giant Pokemon stuffed animals: On amphitheatre-style steps, an enormous Snorlax naps in the corner while a bulbasour sits ready to pounce. Elsewhere, a stunned Psyduck stares vacantly toward the distance, and perhaps the company's unexpected future. In March, Niantic made a bombshell announcement: the developer of Pokemon Go — once the biggest mobile game ever in the U.S. — is abandoning games to go all-in on AI. It has sold off its game development business to Saudi-owned game maker Scopely in a $3.5 billion deal and rebranded itself as Niantic Spatial. Instead of building augmented reality games for mobile phones, it will develop artificial intelligence models that analyze the real world for enterprise clients. 'It's kind of unusual for a successful company to do this cellular division — form two companies,' cofounder and CEO John Hanke told Forbes. 'It became clear to us that the way to maximize the opportunity for both was to let each of them go and pursue its future.' Now, Niantic is doubling down on its nascent Spatial platform, announced in November, which provides AI mapping tools that companies can use to chart out routes for robots or power augmented reality glasses. Just as large language models allow AI to generate text, Niantic's Large Geospatial Models (LGMs) help AI understand, navigate and interact with physical spaces as a human would. The models are able to recreate 3D, real-world places thanks to Niantic's massive set of location data, drawn from the 30 billion miles people have collectively walked playing its games like Pokemon Go and Ingress. And when the models don't have precise data on all the dimensions, topography or physical structures in a place, they use generative AI to fill in those blanks, estimating different angles of a statue or missing corners of rooms. 'I don't think maximizing the value for Pokemon Go for the next 10 years is necessarily where [Hanke's] heart is at.' Niantic's pivot underscores the seismic effect that the generative AI frenzy has had on Silicon Valley since ChatGPT rocked the industry nearly two-and-a-half years ago — radically transforming even a firmly established decade-old company like Niantic. According to Gartner, the market for spatial computing is expected to hit $1.7 trillion by 2033, up from $110 billion in 2023, with growth driven by location-based services from the likes of mapping giant TomTom and traditional big tech like Google. 'The opportunity is enormous,' said Tuong Nguyen, director analyst for Garner's emerging technology team. So is the competition. In spatial AI, Niantic faces some formidable rivals. Since 2021, Nvidia, the $3 trillion chipmaker, has offered Omniverse, an enterprise platform that creates 3D 'digital twins' for performing simulations in factories and other industrial settings. And last year, computer vision pioneer Fei-Fei Li, known as the Godmother of AI, founded World Labs, a startup building AI that generates 3D fantasy worlds, which could be helpful for video game development or astronaut simulations. The company is already valued at $1 billion — without even launching a product. To fund its new company, Niantic went to its well of existing investors, including Coatue, Battery Ventures and CRV, for a $250 million investment. As part of the deal, which was in the works for a year and is expected to close by the end of the month, about 400 gaming employees will join Scopely, maker of the popular Monopoly Go mobile game, and about 200 will remain with Niantic. The company laid off more than 65 people during the restructuring; Niantic isn't expecting any more 'significant' layoffs, though one or two people could hypothetically depart in the final phases of the deal, Hanke told Forbes. From the start, Pokemon Go was a runaway hit, generating around $8 billion in revenue since its debut in 2016, analysts estimate. Almost a decade later, the game, which tasks players to catch virtual Pokemon by trekking to real-world locations, racked up 100 million players in 2024, Niantic said. The company brought in $1 billion in revenue last year, with 30 million monthly players across its catalog, which also includes Pikmin Bloom, a step-counter game developed with Nintendo, and Monster Hunter Now, developed with Capcom. Niantic doesn't break out revenue for individual games, but the vast majority came from Pokemon Go, according to research firm Aldora Intelligence. It was responsible for $770 million of Niantic's billion-dollar haul in 2024, the firm estimated. Pokemon Go was a global phenomenon, attracting meetups around the world. The game was lightning in a bottle, but Niantic has had trouble replicating its success. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the company's first big bet after Pokemon Go became a global phenomenon, was released in 2019 and scrapped in 2022. That same year, the company laid off around 90 people, shutting down several games in development, including one based on the Transformers franchise. A year later, Niantic shut down its Los Angeles studio and laid off 230 people, a quarter of its workforce at the time, coinciding with mass job cuts across the industry post-pandemic. The closure meant cancellations of a handful of major projects, including games with high profile partners like the NBA and Marvel. And even Pokemon Go's lustre has faded from its glory days. On Apple's App store, it's still a top 10 role playing game, but it has fallen out of the top 100 free games. Hanke insists the sale was not due to games underperforming or revenue woes. 'It's not a case of abandoning the [games] business,' he said. 'You look around at the games we have on the market — revenue is doing well,' he added, pointing to the 'successful' launch of Monster Hunter Now in 2023, where players seek out and fight virtual monsters. The game brought in $142 million last year, a 23% jump year over year, according to Aldora. Joost van Dreunen, founder of Aldora Intelligence who's researched the industry for 15 years, agrees: 'This wasn't a fire sale to save the company.' The biggest reason for the split, Niantic executives say, is focus. Inside the company, there has always been competition for time and resources between the game development side and technology side, which developed all of the augmented reality and mapping tools that underpin the games. The latter, for example, built Niantic's 'visual positioning system' which could precisely pinpoint a person's exact location at a specific date and time (like if you caught a Squirtle at Grand Central Terminal at noon). Its technology portfolio also includes Scaniverse, an app Niantic acquired in 2021 that lets a user create a 3D model of a room by scanning it with their phone, similar to how you'd take a panoramic photo. Now, the company can devote all of its energy to the enterprise business — even if it means Niantic can no longer lean on its primary cash generator. 'We will have to focus on our own revenue,' said CTO Brian McClendon. 'And we won't have to split our attention between maintaining and improving Monster Hunter, and Pokemon Go revenue and business, versus addressing just this,' he said, referring to the enterprise platform. Brandon Gleklen, a principal at Battery Ventures, which first invested in Niantic's 2019 Series C, told Forbes the move was inevitable, noting that juggling games and developing AI 'was like two bodies running a three-legged race.' The pivot to enterprise is a decidedly buttoned-up swerve for a company with such a playful culture. It was named after the Niantic, a wrecked whaling ship that brought prospectors to San Francisco during the 1849 gold rush, its remains now residing beneath the TransAmerica tower. As an homage to the vessel, Niantic's lobby is styled like an old ship's deck with an antique cannon and scuba suit. But Hanke says the new strategy is a return to his roots. A pioneer in digital mapping, Hanke cofounded Keyhole in 2001, a satellite imagery startup that Google bought in 2004 for about $35 million in stock and used as the basis for Google Maps. After ascending to lead Google's global mapping operations, he began Niantic in 2010 as a small gaming division within the sprawling tech giant. It released Ingress, a sci-fi capture-the-flag game, two years later, and after the game became widely popular, Niantic was spun out into an independent company in 2015. (Google is still an investor in Niantic Spatial.) Then came Pokemon Go. Released in 2016, the game's placement of virtual Pokemon characters in real locations spurred millions of people to explore the outdoors, a novelty for an online game in an era of mounting screentime. It inspired meetups and events around the world. While several businesses limped through the pandemic, Pokemon Go surged as people looked for socially distanced activities outside. Three days after its release, it had more users than Twitter at the time. After just two months, it became the biggest mobile game ever in the U.S., clocking 21 million users a day. It was a cash cow, but that success came with lots of baggage. It takes a lot of work and money to nurture a megahit, and Niantic was throwing resources at keeping creating new features to keep people coming back. Meanwhile, coming up with a followup success became even more difficult. 'In the years since Pokémon GO's launch, the mobile market has become crowded and changes to the app store and the mobile advertising landscape have made it increasingly hard to launch new mobile games at scale,' Hanke wrote in a memo to employees during the 2023 layoff. 'We're not in the business of making weapons systems.' So the mobile game developer did the unimaginable: it ditched the games business. 'I don't think maximizing the value for Pokemon Go for the next 10 years is necessarily where [Hanke's] heart is at,' said Saar Gur, general partner at CRV, which invested in Niantic's Series C. The idea is to pitch Niantic's core technologies to businesses, like its visual positioning system, which could be useful to enterprises in confirming important deliveries were made, instead of just taking a photo of the package in the doorway, said McClendon. Scaniverse could allow a technician from an HVAC company to remotely survey an area and annotate the virtual space. Niantic Spatial has a handful of clients so far. The Singapore tourism board is using its tech to create an augmented reality tour of the country's popular Flower Dome, the largest glass greenhouse in the world. The closed-door pilot, set to launch next month, will let guests use headsets to see digital overlays with information about the various flower species, which pop up as they walk through the garden, said Gregory Yap, vice president of the Americas for the Singapore tourism board. A deal with government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton gives access to Niantic's logistics and mapping tools, like its scanning tech and visual positioning, which provides precise location tracking down to the centimeter, to all of the company's corporate clients. One unannounced client, Hanke said, is working on a development that's 'part theme park, and part office park, and part residential.' And Niantic hasn't ruled out doing business with the military. 'We will have customers in the government, public sector space that could include military customers,' Hanke said, though he does draw one line: 'We're not in the business of making weapons systems." The lifeblood for AI models is data, and Pokemon Go hoovered it up in droves. Spinning off the games division, however, doesn't mean Niantic is giving up the firehose, the company said. Niantic will continue to provide the game's underlying mapping technology to Scopely even after the sale, now as a vendor instead of proprietor. That means Niantic Spatial will still have access to the location data that allowed it to build its AI models in the first place, said Tory Smith, director of product management for the map platform. 'It's not like there's a spigot being shut off,' he said. 'We just can't control how it evolves over time.' Nor can the company control who has access to it. When Niantic announced the sale to Culver City, California-based Scopely in March, the company drew ire for selling its popular games portfolio — and the user data that comes with it — to a venture owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Hanke dismisses that concern. 'The rules of operation there are pretty clear, in the sense that Niantic and Scopely are the keepers of that,' said Hanke. 'So there wouldn't be any access to that, or any usage of that, outside of those companies.' In a statement, a Scopely spokesperson said the company 'maintains autonomous and independent operations.' 'Player data always has and will continue to be handled in accordance with strict data privacy laws and regulations, as well as stored exclusively on U.S.-based servers,' the company said. Some critics see Saudi Arabia's investments in video games and entertainment as a means to distract from its track record on human rights. Hanke said Niantic considered those points when it chose its buyer. 'We thought about that. We discussed and debated it,' he said. 'From our own personal observations, and the people that we've worked with in the Kingdom, I think there's a real desire there to become a more open liberal society.' When Niantic announced last November that it had created AI models based on location data collected by its games, there was more outcry. Some players felt blindsided their information was being used to train AI without their knowledge. Hanke strongly denied that, saying data wasn't collected when people just walked around playing games — only when players performed specific actions while during gameplay, like scanning a PokeStop to get in-game rewards like power-ups, and were asked for explicit consent to improve the company's systems. (McClendon acknowledged that AI wasn't mentioned specifically because the models weren't in development when the disclosure was written. It still does not reference AI, but after the deal closes, Niantic said the games business will roll out new terms of service that expand on its data policies.) To mark the sale of its games business and the beginning of its play in AI, Niantic held a party in early May across the street from headquarters at Sens, a tony Mediterranean restaurant overlooking the bay. At the party, Hanke and employees shared stories and memories as they said goodbye to the company in its current form. But after the deal closes, the gaming employees won't go very far. They'll move to a Scopely office a short walk away. The Pokemon stuffed animals will likely join them, Hanke said.
Economic Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
Is Pokémon running out of ideas? Ground-type Charmander leak sparks fan backlash in Gen 10 rumour mill
TIL Creatives AI generated image When longtime Pokémon fan Aaron Lucero saw a Ground-type Charmander trending online this weekend, his reaction summed up what much of the fandom was feeling: 'Again? They're doing this again?' Lucero, like thousands of others, stumbled across the latest Generation 10 'leak' making the rounds online. The alleged info drop, which originated from 4chan and gained traction through a repost by the Hidden Power Podcast , outlines ambitious plans for the next mainline game, possibly titled Pokémon Gales & Tides , rumoured for the Nintendo Switch 2. Also read: 'Pokémon Go' maker nears $3.5 billion deal to sell games unitThe leak describes a tropical archipelago setting featuring 16 major islands, 150+ smaller ones, a new battle mechanic called 'Gigaxis,' and three new starter Pokémon: a Fire Goat, Water Octopus, and Grass Snail. But one bizarre detail is dominating conversation more than any of that: a new ground-type regional variant of Pokémon community has always had strong feelings about its mascots, but the idea of giving Charmander yet another region-specific twist, this time as a Ground-type has left fans baffled and, in many cases, frustrated. 'I don't care about the rest of it, just please for the love of god stop making a new Charmander every other region,' one fan wrote. Another chimed in: 'Only believing this because a regional variant for the Charizard line sounds exactly in line of what Pokémon would do lmao.' This isn't the first time Charmander and its evolutionary line have stolen the spotlight. Mega Charizard X , Y , and Gigantamax Charizard have all had their day. But for a growing segment of the fanbase, the overexposure is wearing thin, especially when there are over 1,000 other creatures in the Pokémon roster. Despite the frenzy, there's a high chance this entire leak is a fabrication. While 4chan has occasionally been a source of accurate leaks, its track record is sketchy at best. The anonymity of the platform makes it a breeding ground for unverified information, especially when it comes to major game franchises like Pokémon . Also read: Pokémon GO acquisition: Scopely buys Niantic's gaming division for $3.5 Billion – What it means for players and the future of the game 'If any of this ends up being true, I will livestream myself eating a Pikachu plushie,' one skeptical fan joked, echoing the mood of many. Still, it's fun to imagine. With Pokémon Legends: Z-A already confirmed as the next official release, anything beyond that is pure speculation. But the growing backlash to Charmander's repeated reinvention is a clear sign: the fanbase wants fresh ideas, not another familiar flame in a new coat of mud.
