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Tech & Business

1.27.2022

Saudi Arabia invests in the video game sector

Saudi Arabia has just signed a massive contract in the field of e-sports. One goal: to become the leader in a sector that is popular worldwide, and the leading cultural market in many countries.

On January 26, 2022, Saudi Arabia announced the merger-acquisition of the European e-sports leagues ESL Gaming and FACEIT.

 

 

A transaction valued at a cool 1.5 billion dollars. An impressive sum considering that the Swedish entertainment company Modern Times Group, offered less than $100 million to acquire ESL Gaming in 2015.

”The new company will create the ultimate platform for competitive gaming”

The ESL-FACEIT website.

Gaming, an asset of the “Vision 2030” plan

This is not the first time the Kingdom, host of several e-sport tournaments in recent months, has shown interest in the burgeoning discipline. The Savvy Gaming Group, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, himself a notorious gamer, aspires to become a leader in the gaming sector. Saudi Arabia is already considered the most developed market in the Middle East in this sector, with a value of one billion dollars in 2021.

 

E-sports tournament in Riyadh.

 

According to a statement from the Saudi Public Investment Funds (PIF), the establishment of Savvy Gaming Group is part of the diversification of the Saudi economy’s revenue sources. The PIF plans to invest $40 billion per year in the Saudi economy for five years. The video game industry has a bright future ahead of it in the Middle East.

 

See also

The ambitious Saudi project to green the desert

 

Published on 27 January 2022

#Esports

#Gaming

#Saudi Arabia