Poké Stop: Pokémon Go Players Launch Campaign After Sale Report Stokes Monetization Fear

Niantic’s augmented reality video game phenomenon, Pokémon Go, may soon find itself under new ownership — and some fans are already working to keep it from reaching this next stage in its evolution.

Long-time players of The Pokémon Company’s trend-setting mobile experience were sent into a frenzy last week when a Bloomberg report suggested that Niantic was in talks to sell its video game efforts to Saudi-owned company Scopely for around $3.5 billion. It’s a deal that could involve the trade of titles such as Monster Hunter Now, Pikmin Bloom, and, yes, Pokémon Go, with an announcement reportedly expected to arrive soon. There’s been no word on how significantly a leadership change could impact in-game mechanics and microtransactions... yet.

With Scopely in the picture, this is what we’re looking at. There goes my desire to play pogo.