Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced on Saturday that it was exploring increasing its stake in Nintendo and other Japanese game companies.
The development was revealed in an interview with Kyodo News by the Vice Chair of PIF’s gaming business, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud.
Founded in 1889, Nintendo is a global Japanese corporation that specialises in consumer electronics and video games.
Nintendo used to make handcrafted Hanafuda playing cards. But gradually, it changed into a toy firm and then a publisher and creator of video games.
Newsng gathered that PIF is the company’s largest outside investor, holding 8.58% of Nintendo at the moment.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund (PIF), was set up in 1971 to oversee the country’s oil earnings.
According to the report, the goal of diversifying the PIF’s assets is to get the country off its main export and resource, oil, and into other international markets.
Furthermore, it is stated that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, and Prince Faisal are both avid gamers. The latter is known to particularly enjoy Activision’s Call of Duty game series.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who also holds Savvy’s chair, has been investing more in entertainment companies like games and animation in recent years as Saudi Arabia tries to refocus its economy away from the erratic oil sector.
In keeping with these endeavours, the nation is developing Qiddiya, an entertainment hub southwest of Riyadh, which will house a stadium, a Formula One circuit, esports facilities, and the first-ever theme park in the world dedicated to the wildly popular anime and manga series “Dragon Ball.”
We earlier reported that with two equal stock purchases, Toyota Motor Corporation is set to spend an extra $500 million on Joby Aviation.
The second tranche will fund what the Californian eVTOL developer calls “a strategic alliance focused on commercial manufacturing.”
