In the kingdom’s most recent gaming venture, the Savvy Games Group, owned by the Saudi Wealth Fund, paid $4.9 billion for the US games producer Scopely.
The regulatory clearance for the purchase still needs to be obtained. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the chairman of Savvy, which is controlled by the sovereign Public Investment Fund and has a battle chest of more than $30 billion.
The nation is making investments in everything from the production of electric vehicles to tourism and gaming in an effort to lessen its dependence on energy earnings. It has set out to become one of the major gaming centers in the world, with the sector anticipated to add 1% of its GDP by 2030.
Scopely represents Savvy’s third significant investment of the year after its purchases of the esports firm VSPO and the esports platform Vindex. Scopely, located in Los Angeles, was established in 2011 and produces free-to-play social games like Marvel Strike Force, Stumble Guys, and Yahtzee With Buddies.
According to Brian Ward, chief executive officer of Savvy, “Scopely will benefit from Savvy’s long-term patient financial backing to deliver on its strategy to grow and deepen existing franchises as an autonomous operating company under the Savvy umbrella.”
Saudi Arabia’s gaming plan is backed and directed by the $600 billion Public Investment Fund, which has been channeling petrodollar surpluses into gigaprojects. Additionally, it has made significant investments in gaming stocks, including a 5% share in Nintendo and about $3 billion in US gaming firms like Activision Blizzard.
The majority of Saudis, according to Prince Faisal bin Bandar, president of the Saudi Esports Federation, identify as players, he claimed in an interview in February.
He stated that 68% of people in the nation consider themselves players and that 70% of the population is under the age of 35. “How we contribute to the global industry is the main goal of everything we do,”