One year after bringing Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now, Campfire, and Wayfarer into its portfolio, Scopely says its focus has been on supporting the teams behind these experiences while deepening investment in the communities that power them.
During a panel discussion at GamesBeat Summit moderated by Rachel Kaser, Scopely SVP of Operations for the Niantic games division Jessica Zestar-Postrk and Scopely VP of Product for Pokémon GO Michael Steranka, who has been with the game for the majority of its lifespan, discussed how the company has approached unifying the Niantic games teams with Scopely while allowing them to continue evolving their exploration-focused live-service experiences.
Early results from the acquisition
The session explored how the Niantic games titles have progressed as part of Scopely through live operations evolutions, shared learnings, and deepening its community-focus. In the last 12 months, the business has delivered double-digit year-over-year growth in games like Monster Hunter Now, engagement in Pokémon GO is up 10%, and Pikmin Bloom is the No. 1 game on the App Store and Google Play in multiple markets in Asia.
Zestar-Postrk said real-world engagement has also accelerated with more players participating in live events and community experiences, as shown by Campfire participation being up 85%, Wayfarer DAU up more than 20%, and the number of community ambassadors continuing to grow globally.
Initial perspectives from Scopely and Niantic
As Steranka put it, acquisitions can “definitely be nerve-racking,” “I was nervous,” but “I’ve been very pleased; it’s been going very smoothly. Scopely has ultimately let us continue to build the types of games we want to build. And at the same time, encouraging us to invest more in the things that make our games special — committing further to initiatives that our team and the players really care about.”
Steranka noted that they also wanted players to be excited by the acquisition. Because of this, the team put a lot of time into talking to the community about the deal to reassure them that the game experience they grew to love would not change because of Scopely, it would still be crafted and live operated by the same team, and if anything were to change, it would be investing more in the aspects they enjoy. Integrating technology and tools with Scopely was managed carefully to ensure the transition was not felt by players.
Zestar-Postrk added that Scopely is committed to a learning and listening mindset following an acquisition. Scopely has done over a dozen acquisitions to date.
Shared learnings across teams
Steranka said that becoming part of Scopely’s broader portfolio has created new opportunities to improve how the Pokémon GO team approaches operations, analytics, and player engagement. Lessons from across Scopely’s ecosystem have helped the team develop new ways to better understand players and identify opportunities to enhance the overall experience.
“One of my favorite things about the acquisition is that for the first time in its history, the Pokémon GO development team now belongs to a company that is fully focused on the craft of making great games,” Steranka said. At the same time, he emphasized that knowledge-sharing has gone both directions.
“Scopely teammates have genuinely come to us and looked to us as experts to incorporate learnings into other products in their portfolio. It’s a relationship built on mutual trust.”
“Let the Product People Be The Product People”
Zestar-Postrk described Scopely’s product philosophy following the acquisition in simple terms: “Let the product people remain the product people.”
She emphasized that Scopely does not want to fundamentally alter teams that have spent nearly a decade building globally beloved, successful games. Instead, the focus was on identifying ways to empower the teams, access additional resources, and share expertise while preserving the creative foundations that made them successful. She also commented that Scopely consistently focused on how everyone could unify in a bespoke way as each game is different.
“The game team knows the player and community best,” she said. “How can Scopely purely help accelerate the team, and how can we ensure they are also making Scopely better?
Investing beyond the games
An acquisition rarely results in a continuation of the status quo, though.
One recurring theme throughout the discussion was Scopely’s investment not only in the games themselves but also in the broader ecosystem surrounding them.
According to Zestar-Postrk, additional support has enabled teams to expand features, strengthen live-service operations, and further develop products that help players connect beyond gameplay.
Some of the clearest examples can be found in Campfire, which helps players discover and organize local communities; Wayfarer, which enables players to submit and review real-world locations; and the Pokémon GO Community Ambassador program, where volunteer players, known as Trainers, help bring the experience to life in local communities around the world.
Those efforts have translated into strong growth, with Community Ambassador events surpassing now over 200,000 globally.
Looking toward Pokémon GO’s next decade
As Pokémon GO approaches its 10th anniversary in July, Steranka said the team remains focused on balancing the expectations of longtime players with opportunities to evolve the experience for future audiences.
With hundreds of millions of players over its lifespan, Pokémon GO remains one of the strongest examples of how a live-service game can sustain engagement over an extended period through ongoing content, real-world experiences, and community investment.
Kaser noted that the scale of the Pokémon GO community remains one of the most fascinating aspects of the game.
Looking ahead, both Steranka and Zestar-Postrk expressed excitement not only for the upcoming anniversary celebrations, but for the years ahead. The team wants to keep the flywheel going for the game’s 20th anniversary and beyond.
“As a lifelong Pokémon fan, I’m so stoked for the things we are going to try to bring to life,” Steranka said of the team’s plans for the next decade.
“We’re excited for the long-term; we’re off to a really good start,” added Zestar-Postrk.