Saudi Investment Fund Pays $3.5 Billion To Capture Pokemon Go (bbc.com) 9
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is acquiring Nianticâ(TM)s gaming division for $3.5 billion through its subsidiary Savvy Games Group. Niantic's titles include the hit mobile game Pokemon Go, Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom. "Despite launching almost a decade ago, Pokemon Go is still amongst the highest-grossing mobile games in the world, with 30 million monthly players," notes the BBC. From the report: Scopely is one of the biggest names in mobile gaming, with its most successful title, Monopoly Go, being downloaded more than 50 million times and generating more than $3 billion in revenue. Pokemon itself is jointly owned by Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures, which licensed the brand to Niantic so it could develop the game.
Ed Wu, who leads the Pokemon Go team at Niantic, said in a blog post he believed the move was "a positive step" for the game's future. "Pokemon Go is more than just a game to me, it's my life's work," he said. "I won't say that Pokemon Go will remain the same, because it has always been a work in progress. But how we create and evolve it will remain unchanged, and I hope that we can make the experience even better."
Ed Wu, who leads the Pokemon Go team at Niantic, said in a blog post he believed the move was "a positive step" for the game's future. "Pokemon Go is more than just a game to me, it's my life's work," he said. "I won't say that Pokemon Go will remain the same, because it has always been a work in progress. But how we create and evolve it will remain unchanged, and I hope that we can make the experience even better."
Re: (Score:2)
There's a rare Pokemon inside the Kaaba.
It was fun while it lasted (Score:2)
Just deleted the app.
Re: (Score:1)
Do more than that, request to delete the account. I did a few weeks ago and it was done 24 hours later.
Re: (Score:2)
Why? Do you choose which games you play based on who the upstream corporate shareholder is? That is ... actually I'm impressed. Or at least I would be impressed if a) I believed you actually did this, and b) even if you did, only if you applied the same thought to everything else you do.
Show your working. I want to see your speadsheet listing the corporate ownership of every service you use, every game you play. Let's see if you're serious or just bullshit on Slashdot.
Re: (Score:2)
Or, it could be because the Saudi Government has actually used information captured in apps to harm users, such as using X to locate "persons of interest" and disappearing them.
The only difference between Saudi Arabia and China is Saudi Arabia is more blatant about what they do. It's partly why X is the place it is, because the owners have no hesitation to use to to fish out people they're looking for. At least China tends to apply pressure first to attract their prey rather than use the means they have at
Diversify (Score:2)
They know that oil money won't last forever.