Saudi Arabia increases stake in Nintendo

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has increased its stake in Nintendo as it continues to expand its holdings in video game assets.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has purchased more stocks in Nintendo, after previously taking interest in the company last year.

According to Reuters, the PIF has increased its stake in Nintendo from 5.01% up to 6.07%, making it one of the biggest external shareholders for the Japanese video game publisher. The PIF first purchased Nintendo shares in May 2022, before going on a huge spending blitz to increase its holdings in video game assets.

In September, Saudi Arabia announced it intended to spend about $20 billion to acquire an undisclosed “leading game publisher”. The country’s investment fund has spent over $60 billion investing in games, and holds shares in a wide range of gaming companies, like SNK, Embracer Group, Activision Blizzard, and Capcom.

Saudi Arabia’s PIF also holds shares in Street Fighter and Resident Evil publisher Capcom. Picture: Capcom

Saudi Arabia’s gaming assets are managed by a group called Savvy, which is a subsidiary of the PIF, but the country’s growing influence in the gaming sphere has some fans and analysts concerned.

Much of the wealth used to acquire shares in games companies has come from Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who is involved with, and largely believed to be one of the architects behind, the civil war in Yemen. He is also considered by many to be responsible for the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Many gamers have vowed not to buy or play any games released by publishers in which the PIF has invested, an endeavour that has become increasingly difficult as the fund pours more funding into the space.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is behind much of the investment into video games. Photo: Rungroj YONGRIT / POOL / AFP

Acquisitions and investments aren’t particularly rare in the games industry, with increasing activity in the space in recent years.

Embracer Group, one of the publishers in which Saudi Arabia has invested, announced last year that it had purchased the rights to the Lord of the Rings IP, alongside the acquisition of a host of game developers and a game distributor.

Microsoft is also embroiled in a year-long investigation into its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The company recently had to walk back its comments on the $100b deal to the courts, after it suggested that a lawsuit brought before it by the US Federal Trade Commission was unconstitutional.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.