Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is reportedly seeking to make Saudi Arabia’s economy less dependent on oil.

Saudi Arabia’s latest business move may come as a surprise even as 2022 has already seen a boom in previously almost unimaginable investments and acquisitions. As we know, the year began with Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion in one of the most incredible deals in video game history, followed by PlayStation buying the studio behind Destiny and Halo, Bungie, for $3.6 billion.

This time it was the creators of Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter that caught the attention of the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has already shown an interest in the video games market with significant investments such as the one in 2020 to buy 33% of SNK.

This time, the investment came from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund and is worth more than $1 billion, according to VGC. The deal also saw the state acquire a 5% stake in Capcom and South Korea’s Nexon.

Saudi Arabia has acquired a 5% stake in both companies

The country’s leaders’ investments in video games are said to be aimed at making its economy less dependent on oil and are working to become “a global investment powerhouse and the world’s largest impact investor, enabling the creation of new sectors and opportunities that will shape the global economy of the future while also driving Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation,” according to the Public Investment Fund website.

Source: VGC