Saudi Arabia seeks to spend 60 billion in gaming

Saudi Arabia announced plans to invest nearly $60 billion AUD in gaming sector investments, including an acquisition of a “leading game publisher.”

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia aims to spend about $20 billion AUD to acquiring a “leading game publisher.” This follows the country investing in a series of gaming companies, like Nintendo, SNK, Embracer Group, and Capcom.

The $20 billion AUD acquisition is part of a larger package of nearly $60 billion AUD intended to be spread over four key points, and will be micromanaged by Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The investments will be split in four specific ways: ~$20 billion will be earmarked towards the acquisition of a “leading game publisher,” ~$30 billion for “a series of minority stake investments in key companies that support Savvy’s game development agenda,” ~$8 billion towards investing into “mature industry partners who add value” to their portfolio, and the rest for “diversified investments” towards esports companies.

The announcements came from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is involved with, and believed to be one of the architects behind, the ongoing civil war in Yemen, and who is also considered by many to be responsible for the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Activision received funding from Saudi Arabia, who also approved the potential buyout from Microsoft. Picture: AFP

The acquisition of a company for nearly $20 billion AUD would be the largest in gaming history, if not for the $100 billion juggernaut that is the Activision-Blizzard and Microsoft deal, which is currently awaiting approval from various regulatory agencies around the world. Saudi Arabia approved the buyout months ago, long before other nations — however, Saudi Arabia also has investments in Activision-Blizzard.

There are plenty of theories as to who could be eyeballing a buyout from Saudi Arabia, but no confirmed talks have taken place.

Acquisitions and investments in the gaming industry are nothing new and have been happening at an increased pace in the past few years. Embracer Group announced a slew of acquisitions, including the Lord of the Rings IP, and Sony, alongside Tencent, has invested a large amount of cash into the Elden Ring developer, FROMSOFTWARE.

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.