Saudi Arabia to Invest $38 Billion as It Aims to Become the Next Gaming Hub of the Industry

The Saudi Arabian government has decided on a $38 billion investment in a bid to become the next major gaming hub. With this move, Saudi Arabia wants to become a major player in the $184 billion global gaming market.

The country is looking to diversify its economy away from oil through its Public Investment Fund (PIF), as per a Bloomberg report. Savvy Gaming Group, a subsidiary of PIF, started with focusing on the esports industry.

Savvy Gaming Group

Savvy Gaming Group will now be developing, publishing and acquiring AAA games. They’re also looking forward to supporting the local gaming industry in Riyadh.

Savvy Chief Executive Officer Brian Ward told Bloomberg at the Game Developers Conference, “We are now more of an esports company than a games company. What we’re doing this year is focusing more on game publishing and development.”

There have already been multibillion-dollar investments made by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund so far. They’ve invested in gaming companies such as Tencent, Nintendo, and Activision Blizzard.

The national education budget is $53 billion…
The literacy rate is at 99%…
20% of the annual budget is allocated for education…
Tertiary enrolment is at 71%, 3% higher than France, 7% higher than Japan, 10% higher than the UK…

So why shouldn’t Saudi Arabia invest in gaming? https://t.co/aWYzDSkWwC

— Saud Salman AlDossary | سعود بن سلمان الدوسري (@999saudsalman) April 4, 2023

Ward added that they’d like to “use those investments to begin to work with these companies and ask how we can work together on publishing in (the Middle East and North Africa), run their esports businesses or develop new IP together.”

PIF is already the largest outside shareholder in Nintendo after they increased their stake in Nintendo to 8.3% back in February.

While the country has around 21 million gamers (58% of the population), as per analysts at Niko Partners, Saudi Arabia is not a known entity when it comes to global game development or publishing.

“Part of our mandate is to help partners and other companies come to Saudi and choose Riyadh over some other place to establish a publishing business or distribution business to serve the region,” said Ward who was a former executive at Microsoft, Electronic Arts and Activision.