Saudi Arabia aims to become a gaming Mecca by 2030, and has now presented an investment plan to inject 38 billion US dollars into gaming companies: With 13 billion $, it aims to acquire a leading gaming publisher. Experts see Electronic Arts and Ubisoft as two potential candidates.
This is the announcement: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced that he aims to make Saudi Arabia the “ultimate global hub for gaming and the e-sports sector” – by 2030. Bin Salman is regarded as the de facto ruler of the extremely wealthy country, which has about 35 million inhabitants. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy under King Salman ibn Abd al-Aziz.
To achieve the goal of becoming a gaming Mecca, several programs have now been launched, which should be conducted through the “Savvy Games Group,” a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which bin Salman heads (via axios):
- For 18.7 billion, they plan to purchase shares in key companies
- For 13.3 billion, Saudi Arabia wants to acquire a leading gaming publisher to become a strategic partner
- 5.3 billion will be invested in industry partners that create additional value
- 533 million $ will go into investments in “disruptive companies”
These efforts are expected to create 250 gaming companies and 39,000 jobs.
Saudi Arabia could buy EA or Ubisoft
Who are the candidates for a takeover? As stated by PC Gamer , there are two important gaming companies that fall within Saudi Arabia’s price range and that might be for sale:
- Electronic Arts – there was a rumor in August that Amazon might strike a deal. EA is certainly a “leading gaming publisher” with brands like FIFA, Apex Legends, or Battlefront, but might be a bit too expensive.
- Ubisoft – they are frequently the target of acquisition rumors. Recently, Tencent invested in the company, and Ubisoft’s market value was estimated at 5.3 billion US dollars. Ubisoft has been in troubled waters for several years.
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More and more large companies are being bought for billions of US dollars
Is that likely? Until a few years ago, one would have thought that such large deals were exceptions, but in the last two years, several very large gaming companies have been acquired:
- Sony treated itself to Bungie for 3.6 billion US dollars
- Microsoft has taken over Bethesda for 7.5 billion
- Take-Two acquired mobile developer Zynga for 12.7 billion
- The massive deal between Microsoft and Activision is another category: it involves 68.7 billion US dollars, but the deal is not yet final.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick stated: They want to sell because despite their size, they are too small to compete with giants like Apple, Google, or Microsoft.
Why are they doing this? Saudi Arabia has apparently realized that their business model centered around the sale of fossil fuels is coming to an end. They now want to reposition themselves as a tourism hub for the future and seek methods to attract tourists from the West.
For this purpose, they are already organizing high-priced e-sports events.
What makes the deal so sensitive? Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince bin Salman are highly controversial.
Bin Salman presents himself as a reformer, allowing even women to drive cars, but many assume he is involved in the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 (via the guardian) and has fueled the war against Yemen, which has cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
In 2018, John Oliver dissected the topic “Saudi Arabia” and Mohammed bin Salman in his show “Last Week Tonight”:
The country is accused of “sport washing” and “e-sport washing” (via gamesbeat): This term refers to the attempt to wash away the dirt one is associated with by hosting large events to improve one’s image.
The topic of “Saudi Arabia” is sensitive for many. When a league in LoL flirted with a partnership with them, the casters revolted and threatened resignation.
LoL league unleashes PR nightmare, has to retract everything after 14 hours
