It has long been no secret that Saudi Arabia has made video games and electronic sports a major focus of its investments, as part of a long-term strategy aimed at diversifying its economy and thus reducing its dependence on the oil industry. Through its public investment fund, the kingdom, which had set the tone by taking control of SNK, invited itself to the capital of many companies including Activision Blizzard, Capcom, Koei Tecmo, Nexon and Embracer, but also Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive for whom the situation has recently changed.
Tears of the Kingdom
Nintendo, first of all, had entered the Saudi fund in spite of itself, which took a 5% stake in the capital of the Japanese giant in May 2022. In January 2023, the PIF increased its stake to 6.07% before to do it again this week to hold 8.3% of the Switch manufacturer, making him the largest external shareholder in the company ahead of the Japanese government’s pension investment fund, as Bloomberg explains. At the same time, research from the Axios site underlines that the Saudi investment fund has discreetly strengthened its position at Electronic Arts (5.8% instead of 5.1%) and at Take-Two Interactive (6.8% instead of 5.3%) by buying 2 million and 3 million shares respectively at the end of 2022.
Incidentally, the Savvy Games Group, which also emanates directly from the Saudi government, continues to consolidate its place in the field of eSports with a new investment of 265 million dollars in the Chinese giant VSPO. Prior to this first foray into China, Savvy hit hard in January 2022 by acquiring two major eSports organizations for $1.5 billion. Saudi Arabia, which dreams of being a stronghold of eSports, is also going against the general trend showing that investments in this area are declining.
As always, these investments are tainted by the involvement of Crown Prince Mohammed ben Salman, symbol of a kingdom divided “between tyranny and modernity”, to use the title of the Exclusive Survey report broadcast in January on M6. As usual, Nintendo did not wish to comment on the progress of the PIF in its capital. And with a patron suspected, among so many other things, of having ordered the atrocious assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, one can understand the reasons for this embarrassing silence.