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Tech & Business

5.19.2022

Saudi Arabia takes a stake in Nintendo

Saudi Arabia is continuing to invest in the popular video game sector! The country is now taking over the Japanese multinational company Nintendo, one of the world’s leading console manufacturers and the creator of such historic franchises as Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon.

Increasingly significant investments

Mohammed Ben Salmane, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, has just taken a 5.01% stake in Nintendo. In January, Saudi Arabia was already behind the merger-acquisition of the European e-sports leagues ESL Gaming and FACEI, which were bought for $1.5 billion. In February, the Misk Foundation also announced the purchase of 96.18% of the shares of SNK Corporation, whose business is the planning, development and publishing of video games. Today, Nintendo is the new target of the Saudi market, proof of a real interest in the gaming sector. With this purchase, Saudi Arabia becomes the company’s fifth largest beneficiary.

 

Video games, a sector of universal culture

Why video games? Not only because Mohammed Ben Salmane happens to be a real gamer, but also because video games resonate around the world. Gaming is one of the favourite hobbies of the younger and older generations, so much so that it has become part of the universal culture of entertainment and a particularly interesting sector for investors.

Building its own content industry

In pursuit of its sustainable development goals, Saudi Arabia has stepped up efforts to build its own entertainment industry, and this round of investments in Japanese and European video game companies could be a way for it to develop its own expertise. Saudi Arabia is already considered the most developed market in the Middle East in this sector, with a value of $1 billion by 2021, the country could multiply this figure by the end of the year.

See also

Saudi Arabia invests in the video game sector

Published on 19 May 2022

#Gaming

#Saudi Arabia