Saudi Arabia's government-funded gaming conglomerate The Savvy Gaming Group will invest $37.8 billion in gaming as part of a controversial effort to expand the kingdom's role in the sector.
Savvy has earmarked more than $13 billion "for the acquisition and development of a leading game publisher to become a strategic development partner," according to the kingdom's press agency.
From Reuters we read:
Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group, owned by sovereign wealth fund PIF, will invest 142 billion riyals ($37.8 billion) in initiatives aimed at making the kingdom a global hub for gaming, state news agency SPA said on Thursday.
The investments will include 70 billion riyals to take several minority stakes in companies that support Savvy's game development agenda and 50 billion riyals to acquire "a leading game publisher to become a strategic development partner".
Another 20 billion riyals will be invested in mature industry partners who bring expertise to Savvy's portfolio and 2 billion riyals will target industry disruptors "to grow early-stage games and esports companies."
Not seeing how making video games passes my 7th grade "this is what your government does" chapter.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @03:10PM (3 children)
It was the Korean government that made k-pop a thing.
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/04/13/399414351/how-the-south-korean-government-made-k-pop-a-thing [npr.org]
So why would a gov invest in games? Lots of reasons. Their oil revenues are likely to eventually become low. It's a desert country, you don't have to be outside at daytime to make games and do esports. Whether it'll be a success who knows... But they've still got oil money might as well try stuff while they can. Dubai has been trying stuff too.
On another related note:
https://youtu.be/DRpt0JkKQ34 [youtu.be]
https://youtu.be/vj79ypG9KS8 [youtu.be]
https://youtu.be/3ADvRrQfRWI [youtu.be]
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @03:23PM
And Putin just hastened that moment - everybody with money and their dog scrambles to build anything not based on dynojuice (and fill the Chinese pockets in the process).
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday October 01 2022, @09:00PM
As I recall, it was a Saudi Royal that owned some crazy fraction of AOL (like 30+%) back when AOL was the big thing on the internet, circa You've got mail, etc.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 02 2022, @07:26AM
In the third video one of them kicks the other in the nuts. Good show. Keep it up.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Saturday October 01 2022, @03:11PM (1 child)
The government may be fronting this, but you can bet it is actually the ruling elite. What do you do with your $billions? They're looking for the next big thing. Being out of touch, they've just become aware of gaming.
Which is all good. With any luck, they will lose some of those $billions, and put them back in circulation.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @03:18PM
They see the influence of oil diminishing and are looking to diversify. They are also doing a LOT of marketing and self promotion for their image. LIV golf is the most recent high profile venture, but they've been very heavy into sports and sport ownership.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by looorg on Saturday October 01 2022, @03:15PM (14 children)
Why? Culture-washing. To try and wash away the stink of being a brutal totalitarian monarchy that goes around murdering journalists (Khashoggi), financing terrorism (9-11), jailing people left and right etc.
After all this works, you already have various royalty figures and their investment fund (PFI) that own various European soccer clubs and they invest a lot in the entertainment and movie industry. They already own like 5% of Nintendo etc.
Still the sum is like chump-change for them. Consider that Microsoft was/is willing to pay like $70 billion just to buy Activision/Blizzard. But it's not that $40 billion is nothing, I'm sure it will buy some loyalty and attract some development studios that can create games or portray an image of Saudi Arabia and the House of Saud in a way that is more to their liking -- more Aladdin and Arabian Nights and less evil Muslim terrorists and brutal dictators.
You are not seeing the bigger picture. They are buying influence and trying to reshape their image. They are not doing it cause they like to play video games. Sort of like why did the US DOD / US Army invest in video games to make Americas army? Not cause they like to sit around playing video games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America's_Army [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by stretch611 on Saturday October 01 2022, @06:38PM (11 children)
I came here to write this same answer.
It is the exact same reason why the Saudis created the LIV Golf Tournament. Let's spend a lot of money and get in the news and the culture. Make them forget what assholes we really are.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @07:12PM (10 children)
The real sickness is in those that joined the league, bunch of racist jerks, they know what the Saudi rulers are.
We did this, when we created the petro-dollar in '73
(Score: 4, Touché) by khallow on Saturday October 01 2022, @11:08PM (9 children)
Boy, I wish you'd stop creating those petro-dollars and leaving those brutal dictatorships all over the place. Highly irresponsible!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 02 2022, @05:04AM (8 children)
Maybe so, but it's very profitable
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 02 2022, @10:21AM (7 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 02 2022, @04:19PM
We sure like their sport-entertainment products tho! Just need bread to go with our circuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 02 2022, @07:40PM (5 children)
That's right, it merely finances and sustains them, helps them grow, and it creates a means of arbitrary price/supply controls. Keeping the Saudis on the petro-dollar is absolutely paramount, and the US turns a blind eye (or even assists) to any crime committed to maintain the status quo. Speaking of which, I find it interesting you don't stand as tall for Yemen as you do for Ukraine. I'm sure you can come up with an excuse...
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 03 2022, @01:34AM (4 children)
And elevates billions of people out of poverty.
You do realize that Saudi Arabia is actually defending the government of Yemen rather than invading Yemen? It's a terrible thing, but so would letting the Iranians run the place - they support the other guys.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 03 2022, @09:12PM (3 children)
Without fail the "official" story provides you one...
The Saudis are propping up a puppet regime, not an elected government
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday October 04 2022, @02:46AM (2 children)
It's true too. When the "unofficial" stories have trouble with reality, we have to look elsewhere.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2022, @08:35PM (1 child)
To you, I'm sure it is, but it isn't. Since nothing will convince you, I'll leave it at that
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday October 07 2022, @05:15AM
"But" yet no actual disagreement. Just two year old "did not! did too!" If you ever decide to give an honest, good faith argument for your "buts", go for it. But in the meantime, I'll treat this continued zero content nonsense as agreement - generating noise to hide the message.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @07:04PM (1 child)
We live in the gangster's world. Look back to the "original sin" (yeah, the one in the bible), nothing has changed. The billionaire snake always gets the girl
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @11:06PM
I think you mean, the welfare queen snake cheats the decent Christian billionaire. Time to take our Eden back of the immigrant welfare subhumans.
(Score: 4, Touché) by maxwell demon on Saturday October 01 2022, @05:31PM
I think there are a lot of things governments do that are not in your 7th grade chapter. Although I'll grant you that most of those are things they don't do openly.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday October 01 2022, @06:11PM (1 child)
Saudi Arabia is used to fast, easy money from oil. They perceive gaming as fast easy money. Hence they invest in gaming as part of an effort to maintain their totally artificial way of life. No surprise there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 02 2022, @04:23PM
Thanks for this deeply researched information. I also believe they enjoy fast cars, loose women and shish kabob, which explains their investment in these products.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Saturday October 01 2022, @06:53PM (3 children)
I have a vision of a new game... I wonder if they want to invest in it...
The game I envision is a PVP first person shooter. You are armed with machetes, you invite unarmed journalists that have different beliefs in to sign paperwork and ambush them making sure to slice and dice them into as many little pieces as you can. Then you pay off corrupt world leaders to cover for your misdeeds.
You win the game by spending millions of dollars to people in a sham sporting event to make it appear that you are wise and benevolent person who would never do such a thing. Bonus points if you use the same corrupt former government leaders. And the ultimate victory is performing the same tournament right next door to the location of your previous terror attacks.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @07:21PM
Hello Dear Developer,
We do find your ideas about a computer game to be very interesting. We are willing to invest $ in your project and vision. Could you please come to our consulate in Istanbul to sign some paperwork?
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday October 01 2022, @09:22PM
Hell, you could probably get some money from Amnesty International for an idea like that.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @11:11PM
If it had a driving scene where you roll coal over eco-terrorists and run over women trying to get across the border (either direction), I can see this might be fun.
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Sunday October 02 2022, @08:14AM (5 children)
Once the oil runs out, and it will, Saudi & UAE go back to being sh1t hole desert that no one cares about.
They are building all these resorts and entertainment attractions because they are planning for that day.
It won't work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 02 2022, @02:41PM
They could also set up bone saw factories to help diversify.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 02 2022, @04:28PM
> It won't work.
Why not? Disney for grown ups replete with plastic surgery, selfie sticks and torture chambers for naughty boys and girls.
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday October 03 2022, @01:29AM (2 children)
I agree with you, but would like to hear your reasons why, if you could.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Monday October 03 2022, @01:31PM (1 child)
Well, I don't know specifics, but the amount of oil they have to extract is finite. If Saudi & UAE don't have other businesses and tourism they will lose the position of power they now have in the world. As has been pointed out, the regimes are medieval. Tourism does not carry the international influence / power they currently hold. If they do nothing though, they become completely irrelevant in global politics again. Which is what I think will happen.
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday October 04 2022, @02:11AM
Let me try my reason and I am expecting criticism. Saudis do nothing themselves. They don't even manage, but hire managers. Once the oil is gone, somebody will simply con them out of all their moneys and nobody would come to protect them simply because there is no gain in doing it.
If they want to survive, they got to lift their asses and do something themselves. It's a real hard proposition though because the amount of moneys they have will bring the biggest and the most ruthless sharks out there.
They do realize it and that's why they try to make the place an attractive place for long term staying. I doubt though that too many folks would want to be their slaves even very comfortable ones.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.