Saudi Arabia is preparing new investments in the gaming industry
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Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Fund is preparing new deals in the gaming industry as part of the government’s strategy to diversify the country’s economy. Over the past year and a half, Saudi Arabia has already spent $8 billion on investments in e-sports, and in total, the authorities have allocated almost $40 billion for these purposes.
The Saudi authorities intend to intensify efforts to diversify the country’s economy, preparing new investments in the global eSports industry. According to Financial Timeswhich cites unnamed sources with knowledge of the authorities’ plans, a specially created unit of the Saudi sovereign fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) called Savvy Games Group is planning new deals to buy gaming companies or stakes in them.
Over the past year and a half, Savvy Games Group has already spent more than $8 billion on such deals. One of the first was purchase 5% stake in Japanese game developer Nintendo for $3 billion in May 2022. Last June, the Saudis invested $1 billion in the Swedish developer Embracer Group. In February of this year, $265 million was invested to the Chinese company VSPO, which organizes eSports tournaments. In April Savvy Games bought for $4.9 billion by the American mobile game developer Scopely. In total, according to a number of media reports, Saudi Arabia has allocated about $38 billion for investment in the gaming industry.
“They buy everything they can,” said Pierre Harding-Rolls, an analyst at Ampere Analysis, in an interview with FT. “This industry is just emerging in the country, so they have to create everything from scratch.”
It is reported that by 2030 the country’s authorities intend to create 39 thousand jobs related to e-sports, becoming a hub for 250 companies in this industry. Among the plans, among other things, there is an expansion of cooperation with VSPO in organizing tournaments. “This is a very promising partnership for us,” Danny Tang, VSPO director of international development, quotes the FT. “Saudi Arabia is a very young country with an actively developing gaming community.”
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