Saudi Arabia has established itself as a prominent name in the esports industry over the last few years. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plans to invest $38 billion in electric sports. The Saudi Arabian government has just announced that it will invest a total of 142 billion riyals, approximately $38 billion, to transform the Saudi Kingdom into a global esports hub. The Saudi Arabian government made this announcement.
The Saudi government aims to turn Saudi Arabia into an esports hub by 2030. They believe this will increase tourism and allow the kingdom to diversify its economy, which is currently based on oil. Because of this, the kingdom’s economy will be able to maintain more excellent stability than it currently does.
The work that needs to be done to achieve this objective will be managed by Savvy Games Group, a division of the country’s sovereign wealth fund. According to the plan, the Savvy Games Group has every intention of spending 50 billion riyals on the acquisition and development of game publishers, 70 billion riyals on the acquisition of stakes in already established gaming companies, 20 billion riyals on investments in mature esports businesses, and the remaining 2 billion riyals on seed investments in early stage gaming and esports companies.
In addition to the plans it has for the future, the Savvy Games Group already has investments in several of the most well-known companies in the esports industry, such as Activision Blizzard Inc., Electronic Arts Inc., and Nintendo Co. Since the organization now has access to a more significant amount of money and resources, it is almost confident that the number of people involved and the names of those involved will continue to grow.
The following statement was made regarding the topic of esports by Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of Savvy: “We are harnessing the untapped potential across the esports and games sector to diversify our economy, drive innovation in the sector, and further scale the entertainment and esports competition offerings across the kingdom.”
