Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to transfer its gaming stock to Savvy Games Group
Could start from 2025 as the fund is set to take a more collaborative approach to its games strategy going forward
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is set to transfer its games-related stock to its subsidiary Savvy Games Group.
The move could happen as early as 2025, according to a Savvy representative talking to Nikkei, with the initiative part of a wider plan to leverage IP across the Middle East, the Japanese publication reported.
Going forward, the country's PIF is set to expand its involvement in games beyond investments to "active collaboration," even though it's unclear exactly what that means at this stage.
Nikkei gave the example of Qiddiya Investment Company's announcement of a Dragon Ball theme park in Saudi Arabia (the company is owned by the PIF), saying that's the type of initiatives that will "likely accelerate going forward."
Savvy also told the publication that its executives have been talking to gaming firms in Japan about "how [the company] can help Japanese game companies access the Saudi Arabian and [Middle East and North Africa] markets better, establish more direct lines of collaboration in games, esports, and IP, and provide tangible support in localisation efforts."
Over the past few years Saudi Arabia's PIF has been increasing its stake in Nintendo among other Japanese firms, and currently holds 8.58% of shares in the Mario firm.
It also acquired stakes in Capcom and Nexon in 2022, which it has since increased to 6.6% and 10.23% respectively. It also owns a 8.97% stake in Koei Tecmo.
Outside of Japan, the PIF has stakes in EA (now 9.34%), Take Two (6.52%), and Activision Blizzard.
We talked to Savvy Games Group CEO Brian Ward last year about what exactly the firm is, how it's building its games business, and how it's trying to change Saudi Arabia's image, a country known for its human rights violations.