Saudi Arabia, the government invests 38 billion in video games

The Saudi Arabian government plans to invest $38 billion in the video game industry, with the clear intention of becoming one of the world’s leading hubs for digital entertainment. Indeed, according to a Bloomberg report, one of the country’s publicly funded companies, Savvy Gaming Group, intends to partner with all the multinational companies in which the Saudi government owns shares. In recent weeks, the latter has for example raised the stake owned by Nintendo from 6 to 8.26 percent. The government also has interests in other large companies in the sector such as Embracer, EA and Take-Two. Savvy also stated that it will start dealing with online competitions and Esports, and that in the coming months it will become a video game publisher in its turn. Savvy Games Studio, currently 45-strong, plans to debut a smartphone game, to be followed by a console game. According to Bloomberg, the country would also be willing to purchase 100% of a large western developer, with an estimated budget of 13 billion dollars.