Saudi Arabia says it will spend $13bn to acquire ‘a leading game publisher’

[Pull Up the Roots]

If accurate, the $13 billion acquisition figure would likely fall short of the asking price the very largest third-party publishers would command, such as EA and Take-Two, but it could potentially secure a deal for most others.

In addition, Saudi Arabia state news said 2 billion riyals ($481m) would be reserved for investments in “industry disruptors to grow early-stage games” and esports companies. Finally, 20 billion riyals ($4.8bn) will be invested into “mature industry partners” who add value and expertise to Savvy’s existing portfolio.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a statement: “Savvy Games Group is one part of our ambitious strategy aiming to make Saudi Arabia the ultimate global hub for the games and esports sector by 2030.

“We are harnessing the untapped potential across the esports and games sector to diversify our economy, drive innovation in the sector and further scale the entertainment and esports competition offerings across the Kingdom”.

PIF, which is a sovereign wealth fund chaired by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, has invested in numerous game developers in recent years.

That includes this year’s purchase of a 5.01% stake in Nintendo (which Nintendo subsequently claimed it first learned about from news reports), 5% stakes in Capcom and Nexon, and billions invested in stock for Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Embracer and Take-Two.

They're going all in.

 

[The Mad Titan]

Phil tried to warn yall there are big dogs out there that want in on this gaming thing

Imagine if Google would have bought up a bunch of companies aka IPs for stadia....

Only to kill it and those IPs basically be stuck in Google big money limbo.


But yeah keep worrying about Microsoft, the company that has been in the gaming space 20 years now with multiple consoles and established brands.

 

[KnickstapeCity]

Restrict Your Rights Studios
Blood Money Games
Off With Your Head Interactive

 

[DaylitoJames]

We FINALLY gonna get a sequel to this classic

 

[The Mad Titan]

Phil tried to warn yall there are big dogs out there that want in on this gaming thing

Imagine if Google would have bought up a bunch of companies aka IPs for stadia....

Only to kill it and those IPs basically be stuck in Google big money limbo.


But yeah keep worrying about Microsoft, the company that has been in the gaming space 20 years now with multiple consoles and established brands.

 

[Canon]

Phil tried to warn yall there are big dogs out there that want in on this gaming thing

Imagine if Google would have bought up a bunch of companies aka IPs for stadia....

Only to kill it and those IPs basically be stuck in Google big money limbo.


But yeah keep worrying about Microsoft, the company that has been in the gaming space 20 years now with multiple consoles and established brands.

MS ain’t done shyt with there purchases yet either

 

[The Mad Titan]

MS ain’t done shyt with there purchases yet either

*Plays wasteland 3*
*Plays sea of thieves*
*Plays killer instinct*
*Plays grounded*

Yup nothing at all

 

[Diondon]

Oh noees the boogeymen at the door
So let MS buy up everything

 

[Instant Classic]

Watch them be the ones to acquire Square

 

[PS5 Pro]

Look what these goofy MS idiots started
All because they're too incompetent to make games

Sony bought naughty dog and pretty much any studio they have today that you enjoy the most

 

[Batsute]

Microsoft is not the boogeyman What do they have to do with the crown prince wanting to make Saudi Arabia a global gaming/esports hub and diversifying its economy? If anything they’re helping keep some of these other outside players at bay. Saavy Games coulda bought Bungie & Bethesda with this kind of money with a few billi left over


This same group already owns 5% of Nintendo and capcom, along with investing billions in EA, Take Two, and Activision btw

Yep, also they have a majority share of SNK and minority shares of Nexon. They been in this for a while.

 

[Rekkapryde]

13 billion cant buy rockstar

Add another 7 million tho (current market cap like 19 billion).

 

[Rekkapryde]

Sony bought naughty dog and pretty much any studio they have today that you enjoy the most

Naughty Dog was a Publisher?

 

[CoolinInTheCut]

Better the Arabs than the publisher that ruined classic franchises like Halo, Fable, Banjo, etc.

You can actually count on them to bring the games to all platforms too.

 

[The Mad Titan]

Better the Arabs than the publisher that ruined classic franchises like Halo, Fable, Banjo, etc.

You can actually count on them to bring the games to all platforms too.

@Fatboi1 how we supposed to take y'all seriously with comments like this.