Saudi Arabia records over $8 Billion Investment in Gaming and Esports in the last 18 months
It has invested in numerous Western and Asian Gaming & Esports companies.
In a report on Saudi Arabia's goals in the gaming industry, The Financial Times said that during the previous 18 months, the nation has invested close to $8 billion in M&A deals and bought shares in significant gaming and esports organizations.
Savvy Games Group, a fully-owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's billion Public Investment Fund, is in charge of all agreements. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the fund's chairman, and it has a $650 billion value.
Savvy's two largest transactions to date were a $1 billion investment in Embracer Group (it presently has an 8.1% interest in the Swedish holding firm) and the recently disclosed $4.9 billion acquisition of mobile developer Scopely (known for Marvel Strike Force and Star Trek Fleet Command).
Furthermore, the company has previously made investments in a number of Western and Asian gaming firms, including Nintendo, Capcom, NCSoft, Take-Two, Electronic Arts, and Activision Blizzard.
The Public Investment Fund presently intends to spend $37.8 billion in the global gaming industry, with $13 billion going to mergers and acquisitions and $18 billion going to minority purchases.
"It's a bulldozer approach." According to Ampere Analysis games analyst Piers Harding-Rolls, "the industry in Saudi Arabia is nascent: they have to build it literally from the ground up."
Saudi Arabia hopes to attract 250 gaming businesses and create 39,000 employment with its ambitious investment approach. The nation anticipates that the industry will contribute 1% of GDP by 2030.
