Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Scopely
American video game developer and publisher From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Scopely, Inc. (/ˈskoʊpli/ SKOHP-lee) is an American video game developer and publisher.[2] The company is headquartered in Culver City, California, with offices across North America, Central America, EMEA and Asia, with its largest location in Barcelona, Spain.[3] As of 2024, Scopely was ranked as the #2 mobile video game developer in the world, and #1 in the U.S., in terms of revenue.[4]
Scopely's most well-known games include MONOPOLY GO! and Pokémon GO.[5] Scopely both creates video games from scratch and acquires games and teams, having completed more than ten acquisitions,[6] including the Niantic games division in 2025.[6]
Scopely has both internal game development studios and partners with external development studios to create free-to-play games.[7][8] Scopely develops both original games and ones based on entertainment brands.[9]
Remove ads
History
Summarize
Perspective
Scopely was founded in 2011 in Los Angeles, California, by Walter Driver, Ankur Bulsara, Eric Futoran and Eytan Elbaz.[10][11] Previously, Elbaz co-founded Applied Semantics, which was acquired by Google in 2003, and Bulsara was a software developer at MySpace.[11]
In 2014, former Disney Interactive and Electronic Arts executive Javier Ferreira joined Scopely.[12] Former Disney Interactive executive Tim O'Brien joined in 2014 as chief revenue officer.[13]
In August 2015, Scopely ranked #9 on Inc.'s List of the 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in America, and #1 in the US.[14]
In October 2017, the company announced it was opening an office in Barcelona.[15]
In May 2019, the company acquired Dublin-based DIGIT game studios, its collaborator on the mobile 4x strategy game Star Trek Fleet Command.[16]
In June 2019, the company shared it had surpassed $1 billion in lifetime revenues.[17]
In January 2020, the company purchased FoxNext Games Los Angeles and its RPG game MARVEL Strike Force, along with Cold Iron Studios, from The Walt Disney Company for an undisclosed amount.[18] Scopely later sold Cold Iron Studios to Daybreak Game Company.[19]
In April 2020, Scopely also acquired PierPlay game studio, its collaborator on the mobile word game Scrabble GO.[20]
In July 2021, Scopely invested in three games studios in Europe to co-create games and invest in developers.[21]
In October 2021, Scopely acquired Game Show Network's online gaming division (GSN Games) from Sony in a $1 billion cash and stock deal. Sony Pictures took a minority stake in the company as a result.[22][23]
Savvy Games Group announced its intent to acquire Scopely for $4.9 billion on April 5, 2023.[24][25] The acquisition was completed on July 13, 2023.[26] Scopely remains an independently operated company, headquartered in Culver City, California, part of the Savvy portfolio.[27][28]
In June 2023, Scopely acquired Scotland-based Tag Games studio.[29]
In February 2024, Scopely ended its publishing partnership with Global Worldwide game studio on the title Kingdom Maker and redeployed the Scopely team supporting the project to other games[30].
In May 2024, Scopely was recognized by Time magazine on their annual TIME100 list recognizing the "100 Most Influential Companies in the World."[31] In June 2025, the company was again awarded for the second year in a row on the TIME100 list. [32]
In January 2025, Scopely contributed to the FireAid benefit concert, produced by Irving Azoff, as a presenting sponsor to help wildfire relief efforts in the company's founding city of Los Angeles. Fundraising efforts from the Benefit raised more than $100 million.[33]
On March 12, 2025, Niantic, Inc. announced plans to sell its video game division to Scopely in a reported $3.5 billion deal, which includes games such as Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now and companion apps Campfire and Wayfarer.[34] The deal was completed on May 29, 2025.[35]
Remove ads
Games
Summarize
Perspective
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2020) |
In January 2012, Scopely launched its first free-to-play mobile game Dice With Buddies,[36] followed that year by Jewels With Buddies[37] and Bubble Galaxy With Buddies,[38] which debuted as the #1 free app in the App Store.[39] In April 2013, Scopely launched Mini Golf MatchUp.[7][40] The game was #1 for free apps in the App Store in 49 countries[7] and the #1 app on both the iPhone and the iPad in the U.S.[41] In September 2013, Scopely launched Wordly, a spelling game that reached #1 on the top free apps chart in the App Store, and was the first game with single-player mode developed by Scopely.[42] In November 2013, the company launched the Skee-ball game Skee-ball Arcade, which reached #1 overall in the App Store.[43] In July 2014, Scopely acquired Space Inch's Disco Bees.[44]
In April 2015, Scopely partnered with Hasbro to launch the only officially licensed Yahtzee game, Yahtzee With Buddies, on iOS and Android.[45] The game saw more than 1 million downloads in its first four days.[46][47] In 2016, Scopely released Dice With Ellen, a Yahtzee-style dice game with Ellen DeGeneres.[48]
In May 2015, Scopely signed a multi-year partnership deal with Ireland's DIGIT games studios.[49] The collaboration led to the 2019 acquisition of the studio.[50]
In August 2015, Scopely partnered with The Walking Dead series creator Robert Kirkman and Skybound Entertainment to create The Walking Dead: Road to Survival, the first free-to-play mobile game based on the graphic novels. The game saw 4 million downloads in its first week, was a Top 25 Grossing Game in 17 countries, and became the 6th consecutive #1 game released by Scopely.[47][51]
In 2016, the company partnered with Sony Pictures TV to launch Wheel of Fortune: Free Play, based on the television game show.[52]
Scopely announced a partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2017 and launched the match-3 game WWE Champions.[53] It won a Webby Award for People's Voice in the sports games category.[54]
As of 2018, 40 million people have installed Walking Dead: Road to Survival since its release.[55]
In 2018, Scopely had four top-grossing games: WWE Champions, The Walking Dead: Road to Survival, Wheel of Fortune: Free Play, and Yahtzee With Buddies.[56]
In November 2018, Scopely launched Star Trek Fleet Command, partnering with CBS Interactive and DIGIT Game Studios.[57] In December 2018, Scopely launched Looney Tunes World of Mayhem, a multi-player role-playing game featuring Looney Tunes characters licensed from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, developed in partnership with Aquiris Game Studio.[8][58] The game was downloaded more than one million times on its launch day.[59]
In 2019, the company shared Star Trek Fleet Command surpassed $50 million in revenue in four months.[60]
In 2020, the company launched Scrabble GO.[61] In June 2020, it was announced that the game was the "best launch ever for a mobile word game."[62]
In 2022, the company acquired the mobile party battle royale game Stumble Guys from Kitka Games.[63]
In April 2023, Scopely launched Monopoly Go!.[64] MONOPOLY GO! became the biggest mobile game of 2023, generating $1 billion in revenue.[65] The game is now the biggest mobile game launch of all time.[66]
Remove ads
Funding
In 2013, Scopely raised a seed round of $8.5 million,[37] led by Anthem Venture Partners, with participation from The Chernin Group, Greycroft Venture Partners, and New Enterprise Associates.[67] In 2014, Scopely raised a $35 million Series A funding round, led by Evolution Media.[43][68] In 2016, Scopely raised $55 million in Series B funding.[53] In 2017, the company announced $60 million in Series C funding, led by Revolution Growth,[11] and then raised an additional $100 million from Greenspring Associates in 2018.[56]
In 2019, the company announced $200 million in Series D financing, valuing the company at $1.7 billion.[69] In March 2020, the company announced another $200 million in Series D financing, valuing the company at $1.9 billion.[70]
In October 2020, Scopely announced $340 million in Series E financing, valuing the company at $3.3 billion.[71]
References
Further reading
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads