Pokémon Go developers Niantic change name to Scopely Explore
- Niantic is rebranding to Scopely Explore after their acquisition was finalised
- Niantic Spatial is a new spinoff that will continue to operate Ingress Prime and Peridot
- Scopely clearly has big ambitions to make use of Niantic's popular AR mechanics
Eventually, all things have to change. Grass grows and dies, water ebbs and flows, and game studios change their names. But in the case of Niantic, it's still notable enough, as the Pokémon Go developers are rebranding as Scopely Explore! So, does that mean anything for you and me?
Well, it might. Scopely is, of course, the studio behind Monopoly Go, and they're backed by a huge amount of money, as aptly demonstrated by their acquisition of Niantic for over $3.4 billion, which is certainly not to be sniffed at. The rebrand marks the formal end of the acquisition, but Niantic itself is not quite gone.
Spatial awareness
That's because Niantic's other projects are being run by Niantic Spatial, including Ingress Prime and Peridot (though, crucially, not Pokémon Go). So, in a way, the legacy of the studio does live on namewise, although it's very obviously now a core part of Scopely's major gaming ambitions.Now, while it's tempting to write this off as corporate tendrils worming their way in, I don't think it's necessary to be that cynical. In reality, Scopely acquired Niantic precisely for this reason, because AR and 'spatial' games are increasingly becoming big business.
The er, less savoury applications of all this real-time geolocation data aside, nowadays the technical barriers many of us faced in the early days of Pokémon Go (yeesh, remember that battery life?) have now evaporated. So the newly christened Scopely Explore may indeed herald a new age of AR in mobile gaming and even beyond!
Still, 'traditional' mobile is still a big thing. Just take a look at some of our lists to see our favourite picks! Not least is our list of the best mobile games of 2026 (so far), where we're ranking the top launches of the year and updating constantly throughout!
