Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has made a significant investment in several big-name games companies.
As reported by Al Jazeera, the fund headed by Saudia Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has invested more than $3 billion in Electronic Arts, Activision and Take-Two Interactive.
More specifically, PIF has purchased $1.1 billion worth of shares in EA, while it now has $1.4 billion worth of stock in Activision and $826 million in Take-Two. PIF snapped up the stakes in December last year.
Game on
The Crown Prince has long been a fan of video games, with one of his favourite franchises being Activision’s Call of Duty.
In November, bin Salman purchased a 33 per cent stake in Japanese games firm SNK, though it plans to increase this to 21 per cent in the future.
It is reported that the Crown Prince hopes PIF will help to shift Saudi Arabia away from its economic dependence on oil.
However, these games investments could lead to controversy, given Saudi Arabia’s history of violating human rights. Moreover, the crown prince himself has been accused of ordering journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination in 2018.
