A few days ago, it was widely reported that Savvy Games—a Saudi investment group founded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)—was planning to increase its stake in Nintendo. However, the group has now clarified that it cut its stake in the Japanese company rather than increase it.
Savvy Games cut its stake in Nintendo by about 1% from the previous 8.58%. The Saudi investment fund now owns a 7.54% stake in Nintendo. Nevertheless, it is still one of Nintendo’s largest shareholders outside Japan.
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The earlier report stemmed from a misinterpreted interview. Kyodo News quoted the Saudi investment group’s vice chairman Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al-Saud as saying the company was interested in further investments in Nintendo.
However, the inaccuracies in the post were later corrected and the quote was updated to attribute Savvy Games’ interest to “Japanese gaming companies” rather than just Nintendo. Therefore, the group may likely reinvest the 1% stake it sold in Nintendo in other Japanese gaming companies.
The Saudi investment fund acquired a 5.01% stake in Nintendo back in May 2022. Around the middle of this year, they extended their share in the Japanese gaming giant to 8.58%. At some point, Nintendo denied the Saudi investment fund had bought a stake in the company.
Since it was founded, the PIF has made a series of investments in the video game industry as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s goal to diversify the Kingdom’s economy from oil.
In December PIF acquired a stake in Activision, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two Interactive in a deal worth over $3 billion. The Kingdom is also investing heavily in bringing video game studios to Saudi Arabia as well as investing in electric vehicles.
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