Saudi Arabia Invests IDR 565 Trillion to Become Video Game Center
- Pixabay
VIVA – Saudian government wants to become the center for the Video-game industry, beating the dominance of China, the United States, and Japan. It aims to strengthen the country's economy apart from the oil business.
Even Saudi Arabia commits to investing US$ 38 billion or IDR 565 trillion. The funds will be managed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) – which is the investment company of the kingdom.
Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of PIF, is set to become a game development and publishing company. Going forward, the company will acquire many seasoned game studios.
Previously, Savvy Games Group focused more on e-sports. However, the company boasts that it will venture deeper into video games this year.
This US$38 billion commitment is the second-largest acquisition in the history of the video game industry. In the first position is Microsoft, which bought Activision Blizzard for US$ 68 billion.
The funds are to realize Saudi Arabia's intention to become a center for the main video-game industry in the global realm.
This week, Savvy Games Group secured the acquisition of mobile-game studio Scopely for US$ 4.9 billion. Scopely was founded in 2011 and is known for the popular games 'Yahtzee with Buddies', 'Scrabble Go', 'Marvel Strike Force', and many more.
"Scopely is one of the most significantly growing game companies. We have long admired Scopely's ability to build a loyal community of gamers," said Savvy Games Group CEO, Brian Ward, in an official statement.
"At Savvy Games Group, our mission is to invest in the global gaming community by bringing the best talent on board," he added.