Scopely coCEO Javier Ferreira has told Bloomberg that the company has spent over $1bn marketing Monopoly Go.
The report also quotes Ferreira as saying that Niantic’s game teams have “no plans to develop any new games” after Scopely bought Pokémon Go, Monter Hunter Go, Pikmin Bloom and more for $3.5bn.
Scopely is looking at acquiring PC and console titles, too, the report says. Ferreira described the MMO space as “interesting”, says Bloomberg.
“There’s consolidation happening in the marketplace,” continued Ferreira. “What’s driving it is that it’s become increasingly difficult to achieve growth and success.”
The Scopely coCEO also confirmed that its headcount of 2,400 employees will increase as it sniffs out further deals, and that it has met “hundreds” of potential acquisition targets. Scopely said when it bought Niantic’s game catalogue previously that in 2024 it had “met with over 800 companies, assessing many products, teams, and technology”.
Elsewhere in the Bloomberg report, Brian Ward, the boss of Scopely’s parent company Savvy Games Group, is quoted as saying his goal for last year was for Scopely to “find one thing, one genre-leading title or team capable of making one.” Having bought Pokémon Go, ‘more deals are likely to come’, the report suggests.
“Although we’re not in a race to deploy capital, I don’t think we can sit back and watch and see what happens,” Ward added.
The amount spent on marketing and acquiring Monopoly Go players has already been part of a fiery debate. We published estimates from user acquisition experts back in December 2023 that suggested Scopely could have spent as much as $1.5bn on UA.
“If they made $1bn already then spend is definitely $1.5bn,” Matej Lancaric told us. “They are not even close to profitability. It’s just not possible given the LTV/ROAS curve.”
Scopely later provided a statement to us refuting the claims, saying: “As we shared before, we’re proud that Monopoly Go is currently one of the most profitable mobile games – any claim otherwise is inaccurate.”
“Our UA teams are some of the best and most sophisticated in the business, always spending strategically, continuously unlocking profitable channels and building very large audiences – but doing so in magnitudes of dollar spend well below what was cited by a third-party who isn’t familiar with our business,” Scopely continued.
“We hope the industry doesn’t get discouraged by (wildly) speculative statements not rooted in fact. We firmly believe (and have proven) that smart, not unfettered, spending on products with exceptional player KPIs can build a very large and profitable game business shortly after a product’s launch.”
