Saudi Arabia makes billion-dollar investments in the gaming industry

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Savvy Gaming Group (SGG) is a newcomer to the gaming industry. Still, the company was able to buy shares in industry giants such as Nintendo, Activision and Electronic Arts (EA) and invest heavily in esports.

This strange situation is easily understood when we find out who is behind the founding of the new company: the Saudi Arabian public investment fund.

The announcement of the creation of the group by the Saudi government in January was bombastic. Along with him, the group that has Prince Mohammed bin Salman as president announced the acquisition of ESL (Electronic Sports League), one of the main e-sports leagues in the world, for US$ 1.5 billion (R$ 7.8 billion). ) .

Despite the monarch’s leadership position, CEO Brian Ward, an executive who has worked at Electronic Arts, Microsoft and Activision, has become senior vice president.

“We are there to build a company that, I hope, will be a real powerhouse in the games sector and with the objective of developing and increasing this sector”, said the executive in an interview with the website Axios.

Grandiose goals require ambitious decisions. With that in mind, the company went shopping and, between February and June, closed at least five big deals:

• Acquisition of 5% of the shares of Japanese developers Capcom (from the “Street Fighter” and “Resident Evil” franchises) and Nexon for more than US$ 1 billion (R$ 5.2 billion).

• Investment of US$ 3.3 billion (R$ 17.2 billion) in US giants such as EA (“The Sims” and “Fifa”), Take-Two (“GTA”) and Activision (“Call of Duty”) .

• Disclosure of the acquisition of 96% of the shares of the traditional Japanese game company SNK (“Metal Slug” and “King of Fighters”).

• Purchase of 5% of the shares of Japanese Nintendo for an undisclosed amount.

• Investment of US$ 1 billion (R$ 5.2 billion) in the Embracer Group (which recently acquired the “Tomb Raider” and “Deus Ex” franchises) for 8.1% of the company’s shares and 5.4% of the shares with right to vote.

Saudi Arabia’s sudden interest in the games industry, however, raised suspicions.

The country is an absolutist monarchy that is often denounced for persecuting human rights activists and opponents, as well as having legislation that treats men and women unequally.

One of the best-known cases of regime violence is the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He was killed at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul in 2018 on suspicion of direct involvement by Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In an attempt to change this image in the international community, Saudi Arabia has been investing heavily in sporting events and top teams, seeking to show itself as a modern, growing country open to all. Would investments in games, then, be a new modality of practice that became known as “sportswashing”?

Brian Ward says no. “Firstly, we are a complete commercial entity, operating like any other company, although we only have one shareholder, which may be different from other companies. We are not part of the Saudi state, although our president is,” he said in an interview. to the Sports Business Journal.

To Axios, the executive said he could not comment on the Khashoggi murder and stated that a significant part of the company’s objective is to develop the games market in the Middle East and North Africa through the creation of new studios and construction of e-commerce arenas. sports, among other investments. “I’m not there to do an image makeover project,” he said.

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game tip, new or old, for you to test

Fall Guys

(PC, Switch, Xbox One and PS4)

Released in 2020, “Fall Guys” is a battle royale-style platform game, in which dozens of players are placed together in an arena competing against each other in disputes reminiscent of Faustão’s Olympics. The game went viral shortly after its release due to the unusual situations it creates and the cute appearance, but only last week it arrived on Switch and became free on all platforms.

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news, launches, business and what else matters

• The Ministry of Justice launched an operation last Tuesday (21) against websites that pirated electronic games and streaming channels. As a result, 266 pirated websites and 461 apps were blocked. The operation was carried out in 11 states and arrested 10 people.

• Blizzard has announced that it will stop supporting “Overwatch”, its flagship multiplayer first-person shooter, once “Overwatch 2” is released on October 4th. According to the company, purchases made in the original title will be rewarded in the new game, which will be free.

• Xbox has announced that “A Plague Tale: Requiem”, the sequel to “A Plague Tale: Innocence”, will be released on October 18. In addition to being on Microsoft consoles and being available from day 1 on Game Pass, the new title will have versions for PC, PlayStation and Switch.

• Nintendo will set up stands in malls in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro where Brazilians will be able to test the Switch. The commercial action, called Nintendo Switch Shopping Tour, began last Thursday (23) at the Metrô Itaquera malls, in São Paulo, and Boulevard, in Rio, where it will remain until July 10th. The next participating malls were not disclosed.

• Open-world action game “Far Cry 5” arrives on Xbox Game Pass subscription service next Friday (1st). The game released in 2018 by Ubisoft will be available to service subscribers on console, cloud and PC.

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games that will be released in the next few days and promotions that are worth it

28.jun

• “DNF Duel”: BRL 199.90 (PC), price not available (PS 4/5)

• “Phobia – St. Dinfna Hotel”: price not available (PC, Xbox One/X/S, PS 4/5)

• “MX vs ATV Legends”: BRL 184.95 (Xbox One/X/S), BRL 199.50 (PS 4/5), price not available (PC)

30.jun

• “Outriders Worldslayer”: BRL 256.18 (PC), BRL 269.91 (Xbox One/X/S), BRL 299.90 (PS 4/5)

July 1st

• “F1 22”: BRL 249.90 (PC), BRL 298.90 (PS 4), BRL 299 (Xbox One), BRL 338.90 (PS5), BRL 339 (Xbox X/S)

Promotions of the week

• Nintendo has also started a rare promotion with some of the top Switch titles at a discount. You can buy “Super Mario Odyssey” for R$209.30 (-30%), “Dark Souls: Remastered” for R$99.50 (-50%) and “Chicory” for R$67.08 (-30 %), between others. Offers are valid until July 6th.