Pokémon Go developer Niantic has discussed the game’s future following its impending sale to Monopoly Go maker Scopely.
Pokémon Go developer Niantic has discussed the game’s future following its impending sale to Monopoly Go maker Scopely, which is owned by the Saudi-backed Savvy Games Group, in a deal worth $3.5bn.
In a lengthy video interview with veteran Pokémon Go YouTuber TrainerTips, senior product director Michael Steranka discussed several of the main concerns among the game’s huge playerbase about the upcoming sale.
Asked whether Pokémon Go would ever get pop-up ads to drive more revenue, or share player location with either Scopely or Savvy, Steranka gave an emphatic no.
«That will never happen, I’m saying that right here now», Steranka said about the idea of pop-up advertising appearing in-game.
As for player data, including scanned locations, this will still be shared with Niantic even after the sale, but will not leave the company’s US-based servers.
«Anything players still scan or submit through [Niantic’s location-adding software] Wayfarer or otherwise, that data does still get shared back to the Niantic Spatial organisation, but all that data is still fully encrypted and protected in all the ways we have been doing up until now — which is honestly best in class», Steranka continued.
«Contrary to popular belief, we don’t store any player data beyond what’s needed to actually operate the game, everything is fully anonymised and it’s all stored on US servers.
