Saudi Arabia Declares Investment in Global Gaming Industry of $38 Billion

 

Saudi Arabia has made the decision to spend $38 billion in the gaming sector in an effort to diversify its economy and wean itself off of its reliance on oil. A sovereign wealth fund called the Public Investment Fund (PIF) will invest this sum in the $184 billion worldwide gaming market.

A PIF subsidiary named Savvy Gaming Group will oversee the funding. Previously concentrating on the eSports industry, Savvy will now branch out into game creation and publishing.

According to CEO Savvy Brian Ward, who was cited by Bloomberg, the company is primarily an eSports organisation but will focus more on game creation and publishing this year.

Despite having a growing gaming population, Saudi Arabia presently has little involvement in the gaming sector.

According to market research firm Niko Partners' analysts, Saudi Arabia has about 21 million players, or about 58 percent of the country's total population. This is significant because it competes with the US, which has the second-largest gaming population in the globe.

Similarly, it is anticipated that the gaming market in West Asia and North Africa will grow by 56 percent to $2.79 billion by 2026. PIF has also made enormous investments in gaming businesses like Activision Blizzard, Tencent Holdings, and Nintendo.

With an 8.3% stake, it is Nintendo's largest foreign stockholder. PIF now aspires to acquire studios and publishers in order to realise its objective of developing into a major entertainment hub by 2030.