Amid the pandemic, stock in the the video game industry is rising as more and more are investing. Not only are Reddit traders fueling massive spikes like GameStop, gaming companies’ stocks are rising due to people staying home and playing more video games. In the past year, gaming companies like Activision Blizzard, EA, and Take-Two Interactive have experienced sharp rises in stock prices. Investors are taking interest, and now one of the largest wealth funds in the world is joining in the investments.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has released its latest investments that include some of the biggest gaming companies. Saudi Arabia’s PIF sits at around $400 billion and is trying to diversify its portfolio with large investments in the gaming industry. Even with such a large portfolio, the PIF is looking to increase the fund to around $1.07 trillion by the year 2025.
Saudi Arabia’s PIF has invested $1.4 billion in Activision Blizzard, for 14 million shares in the gaming company behind games like Call of Duty, Diablo, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and many more. The $1.4 billion investment now gives the organization about 2% stake in Activision. The Saudi Arabia’s PIF also has invested $1.06 billion in Electronic Arts for 7.4 million shares in the company behind well-known game series like Battlefield, Dragon Age, and sports sims FIFA, Madden, NHL and UFC. The acquired stock now gives the Saudi PIF about 2.6% stake in EA.
The PIF also completed their investment in the video game industry with acquiring stock in Take-Two, giving the fund 3.5% stake in the company. In total, the investments in the gaming companies makes up about 25% of the equities listed for Saudi Arabia’s PIF. Although the less than 5% shares in each company will not affect operations at any of the companies, the massive increase in the investments by the Saudi PIF is substantial.
In June of 2020, the Saudi Arabian city Neom entered a partnership with Riot Games for the European League of Legends esports league. Within hours, the controversial partnership was ended due to backlash from the community as well as members of the European League of Legends league. The investments in gaming companies by the Saudi Arabian PIF may face similar backlash, as the fund is run by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Large Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa Corporation also has invested in a company largely involved in the gaming industry. Recently, the Kadokawa Corporation entered into a capital alliance with Sony by giving the company 1,422,475 shares in Kadokawa stock. The alliance is intended to allow worldwide marketing for new and previously owned IPs by both companies.
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