Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has increased its ownership of Nintendo Co. Ltd. from 4% to 6%, demonstrating the sovereign wealth fund's expanding exposure to the Japanese video game market.
According to the ownership report submitted to Japanese regulators, PIF's ownership in the Kyoto-based company increased from 5.01 percent to 6.07 percent.
In May of last year, PIF disclosed that it owned a 5% stake in Nintendo in a regulatory filing, stating that the purchase was made for investment purposes. Additionally, it has invested in the video game studios Nexon, Capcom, and Koei Tecmo.
Over the past three years, PIF has been increasing its stakes in video game developers and e-sports organisations in an effort to diversify its portfolio.
During the fourth quarter of 2020, the sovereign fund purchased shares in three US video game developers, including Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two Interactive Software, totaling more than $3 billion.
The Savvy Gaming Group, which is owned by PIF, became the second-largest shareholder in its Swedish rival Embracer Group in June 2022 after purchasing nearly 100 million shares of that company.
The organisation, which debuted earlier in the year, paid $1.05 billion for an 8.1 percent stake in Embracer. The action was intended to aid in the establishment of a regional hub in Saudi Arabia for the Swedish game development company.
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The National Gaming and Esports Strategy was introduced last September by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud in an effort to make the nation a hub for the gaming industry by the year 2030.
By 2030, Saudi Arabia hopes to have 30 competitive games developed by local companies as part of this strategy, which will also result in the creation of 39,000 new jobs.
The gaming industry in Saudi Arabia is anticipated to grow more than threefold by 2030, leading to an increase in the Kingdom's gross domestic product of about 50 times, according to a study done last year by YouGov.
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Boston Consulting Group stated in a different report from last year that the Kingdom's gaming market is anticipated to reach $6.8 billion by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 22%.