Gotta Track’em All: Data Privacy and Saudi Arabia’s Pokémon Go Acquisition

By: Samantha Bradshaw and Dean Jackson | March 17, 2025

In a given month, more than 100 million people open Pokémon Go—the app that allows users to superimpose the world’s most profitable media franchise onto reality using only their smartphone. Using their phone camera and a flick of the wrist, they captured tiny digital monsters at the park, at the office, sometimes in active minefields, and, yes, in the bathroom.

Who else was watching?

Pokémon Go, initially developed by Niantic in 2016, uses augmented reality (AR) to blend the virtual world of Pokémon with the physical world around players. By accessing a smartphone’s camera, GPS, and motion sensors, the game overlays digital Pokémon onto real-world environments, requiring players to physically move to specific locations to 'catch' them. The game’s seamless blending of the digital and physical world made it an immediate smash hit (its ties to Pokémon probably didn’t hurt, either). But underneath that immersive experience are important privacy concerns about how much personal information is being collected, who controls it, and how it’s being used.

Click Here for the full article.