Pokemon Go Director Says Players’ Data Won’t Be Sold, No Intrusive Ads
Earlier this month, Saudi Arabian-owned mobile developer Scopely confirmed that it’s buying the gaming division of Niantic, the developer behind Pokemon Go and other hit mobile games. It was a $3.5 billion deal, and one of the largest gaming buyouts in history. But for any fans who are worried about Scopely imposing certain unwanted changes on Pokemon Go, the game’s senior director, Michael Steranka, wants to assure them that won’t be the case.
While speaking with Polygon, Steranka indicated that he’s spent months talking with Scopely’s team, and he related that they don’t want to rock the boat of Pokemon Go’s success. For example, he indicated that Steranka won’t shift the game from a free-to-play model, or force intrusive ads into the experience.
“[Intrusive ads are] not happening in Pokemon Go–not now, not ever,” said Steranka. “Again, Scopely really recognizes how unique this game is, and they’ve told us themselves that they would be foolish to try to change the recipe of what’s made this such a huge hit and a success. So yeah, absolutely not. We will not be building into our games any type of obtrusive ads or anything like that. I just really want to reiterate Scopely as a company, the way that they operate is they give all of their teams the agency to make the decisions that’s right for their games. And that is not something that we feel would ever be right for Pokemon Go.”
Regarding player data, Steranka reiterated that the company doesn’t sell that to third parties, and offered assurances that it won’t be changing that policy now or in the future. He also confirmed that Niantic’s in-person events, including Pokemon Go Fest, will continue to be held. Steranka went on to explain that Scopely is very interested in examining why Pokemon Go remains popular, and wants to integrate some of the lessons from that into its own games.
For the immediate future, Steranka noted that he’s currently planning the celebration of Pokemon Go’s 10th anniversary, which will arrive in 2026.
“We’ve been planning on this for a long time, so I really want to make sure that next year is as big of a celebratory moment as possible for Pokemon Go,” said Steranka. “And as you probably know, it’s also the 30-year anniversary for Pokemon as a brand. So I think next year as a Pokemon fan, you are going to have just the best year of all time.”
Fans won’t have to wait that long for Pokemon’s next game on Switch. Pokemon Legends Z-A will arrive later this year, and Nintendo recently unveiled a few of its starter Pokemon.
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