Over the last few years, the Saudi Arabian government has been steadily increasing its stake in the video game world, by purchasing shares in massive games companies like Nintendo, and owning stakes in EA, Take-Two and more. But, now the country is looking to expand its role in the gaming space further, and it intends to do so by investing $38 billion to make a gaming hub in the country.
It will be the Savvy Gaming Group, a subsidiary of the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF), that will be looking to use the billions to invest in developers and to set up its own developers all so that it can more efficiently create games from Saudi Arabia.
In the report from Bloomberg that announced the plan, it was also mentioned that Savvy Gaming Group intends to work with the companies that the PIF has invested in already to get Saudi game development off the ground. And likewise, following a slew of major esports events being held in the country, the report also states that there will be no further big-ticket esports acquisitions by the PIF.
Saudi Arabia's further involvement in the games industry has drawn a lot of criticism, due to the country's poor human rights record, and the claim by the CIA that the Crown Prince of the country was to blame for the assassination of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.