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Pokemon Go Dev Says Saudi Arabia's Ownership Of The Studio Isn't Changing Much

Pokemon Go is now owned by Scopely, which itself is owned by Saudi Arabia-owned Savvy Games. What's the day-to-day impact on Pokemon Go based on its new ownership? Not much, according to Pokemon Go's game director.

Michael Steranka told IGN that he understands why people are skeptical. After all, there are countless examples of a new owner coming in and making major changes.

"I think people who are skeptical will remain skeptical," Steranka said. "The biggest thing that we can do is just prove over time that this actually is a great direction for the game to go. But I do think that... I've definitely seen people have a little bit more optimism for the future. It's healthy skepticism, but optimistic, regardless."

Niantic sold its games division to Scopely for $3.5 billion, and this was the No. 8 most-expensive video game acquisition in history.

Steranka also clarified that the Pokemon Go development team will "pretty much never" engage directly with the bosses at Savvy. He said it's his understanding that Savvy allows Scopely to "operate the way they want to operate."

The director went on to say he's excited by the fact that Scopely is 100% a video game company, whereas Niantic had projects in the works across multiple content categories. "That's where I feel like we did struggle a little bit over on the Niantic side," he said. "It's just when it comes to overall company priorities, and where do we want to invest, and what sort of company initiatives we're pushing forward at Scopely, it'll be very much focused on what's best for this game. And I think that'll be a nice breath of fresh air for everybody."

In terms of what fans can expect from Pokemon Go in the future under its new ownership, Steranka said the team plans to pull back from AR initiatives for the game. He said it's no secret that players "have not been super excited about some of the AR systems" in the game. In the future, Steranka said fans can only expect new AR features if it's something the team believes in fully and could be something "exciting."

"Scopely hasn't come in and said, 'Hey, don't do that.' They've very much come in and been very supportive of all the things that we had already been planning on the roadmap," he said. "We've got a couple other amazing features and updates coming down the line later this year that players will be equally thrilled to see."

Scopely is also working with The Witcher studio CD Projekt on a new game.