Potential $3.5B Pokémon Go deal has players concerned about ‘pay to win’ changes

Niantic is reportedly putting its games division up for sale, according to a Feb. 19 report from Bloomberg, with a potential deal between Niantic Inc. and Scopely Inc. that enters the realm of $3.5 billion. The deal would seemingly include Pokémon Go and other mobile titles.

The deal between the two parties is unconfirmed—it could potentially not take place if an agreement isn’t reached—but the news has some community members concerned regardless, particularly due to other titles that fall under the Scopely name.

The topic appeared in a fan discussion, with players chiming in to share their thoughts on what this reported deal could mean for the future of the game. While a couple of people were hopeful about the idea of change, others were concerned and apprehensive about how this may look in practice.

Many players were worried about the potential for an increase in cost and paid gameplay elements in Go, with players pointing to Scopely’s other titles as an example of what could end up happening.

Marvel Strike Force players—if you’re unfamiliar, this is another game owned by Scopely—joined in with the conversation, with a large number describing the game’s monetization strategies in a negative manner.

One player described Marvel Strike Force as “powerfully pay to win,” elaborating by saying, “Scopely implement really intense monetization strategies that worries me a little about what they could do if they got PoGo.”

Another added that they’d be completely done with Go if the deal went through, describing their years of experience with Marvel Strike Force and dubbing the in-game monetization “Insanely aggressive.” They also had a negative view of the game’s social mechanics and group content.

Another popular Scopely title is Monopoly Go, which also popped up as a problem. One player warned that the Monopoly Go community had a lot of complaints about Scopely, wishing that the team behind Pokémon Sleep was involved in the potential deal instead.

Not everyone was convinced that the potential deal would be terrible, though, with a few taking the chance to dunk on Niantic in the process. One hopeful player shared that they didn’t mind spending a little extra money in-game if the deal could fix bugs and help to improve the overall quality.

Another fan on X (formerly Twitter) added a little optimism to the conversation, saying, “Hopefully, Scopely can inject some fresh ideas and fix those avatars everyone’s complaining about,” convinced that a do-over could be beneficial for the Go experience overall.

An uncertain player summed up their thoughts on the matter by saying, “This could either be the best thing ever or the worst. Either way, we got no say in the matter.”

The Bloomberg report points to the deal possibly being announced “In coming weeks.” If the deal goes through or other developments take place with this story, we will update this article, but currently, no deal has officially been announced by any of the parties involved.