Saudi Arabia has used its Public Investment Fund to invest more than $ 3.3 billion ($ 3.3 billion for the most visual students out there) in Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive and Activision Blizzard, Al Jazeera reported (h / t Eurogamer).
This move, carried out by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (colloquially known as MBS), equates to millions of shares in each company, a decent starting point in the video game industry but relatively small fractions of ownership.
That of the Crown Prince MiSK Foundation, a non-profit foundation aimed at “fostering, empowering and creating a healthy environment for young creative talent” in Saudi Arabia, also obtained a third stake to the Japanese gaming company SNK late last year, with the ultimate goal of finally taking majority control of the iconic studio.
While not explicitly part of MBS’s overall Saudi Vision 2030 plan, which, on paper, seeks to attract investors and tourism, it is basically summed up in a propaganda campaign that hopes to portray Saudi Arabia as a progressive nation rather than the oppressive medieval monarchy that it really is. —His recent openings in the video game industry follow the same pattern as the investments made by his regime. sports, sports, i professional struggle.
MBS was hailed as a reformer at the beginning of his tenure as Crown Prince because, among other things, he gave women the right to drive. But its supposed role in ordering the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 and that of Saudi Arabia continuation of the genocide of the Yemeni people (with the help of the United States and the United Arab Emirates) have made it controversial on the world stage.
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Last summer, Riot was forced to do so leaving an association with Saudi Arabia, which would have seen one League of Legends event promotes the kingdom incredibly silly NEOM project, after the reaction of the sports community.