It has been a few years now since theSaudi Arabia takes a close interest in the video game market, particularly following the creation of Savvy Games Group, a state-owned company. We have seen this group invest more and more in major players in the market, buying shares here and there in the biggest companies in the market, like Electronic Arts, Capcom, Take-Two, SNK or much more recently the giant Embracer Group. Which is still not enough for the controversial Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who wants to go even further.
Who will be the unfortunate chosen one?
The latter declares in a new press release that through Savvy Games Group, he intends to make Saudi Arabia the central “hub” for video games and esports by 2030.
What interests us here is fundraising to accomplish this objective, with nearly 38 billion euros (142 billion riyals) to be injected into the video game industry. But in this budget, we notice a share of more than 13 billion euros which is only intended to acquire a major player in the industry, namely a major publisher.
To give an idea, Take-Two acquired Zynga for 12.7 billion dollars, while Bethesda was acquired by Microsoft for 7.5 billion dollars. 18 billion dollars will also be allocated to take some more minority shares in other companies.
It is therefore unclear who is in the sights of Saudi Arabia, but do not be surprised to see other major takeovers in the industry very soon.