Saudi Arabia has reportedly increased its share Nintendo second time in a month.
Like Trading viewthe country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has reportedly increased its stake Nintendo Switch manufacturer to 7.08 percent.
Fund first bought a 5.01 percent stake in Nintendo in May 2022. Just last monthit increased this share to 6.07%.
Nintendo has previously claimed that when PIF bought its initial 5.01% stake in the company, it was unaware of the deal and first learned about Saudi Arabia’s ranking from news reports. It has yet to comment on the latest development.
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and his investment fund have made several investments in the video game industry in recent years.
In December 2020, the fund acquired over $3 billion worth of stock in Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Take two.
Last year, through his Electronic Gaming Development Company, Prince bought 96% of the prestigious Japanese SNKtaking over Fatal Fury, Metal Slug and King of Fighters studio.
PIF was also used to invest more than 5% stakes in both Capcom and South Korean online game publisher Nexon. These investments totaled more than one billion dollars.
And last September, the prince announced that PIF would launch a new strategy for Savvy Gaming Group, which would include putting aside 50 billion riyals ($13.3 billion) to acquire “a leading game publisher as a strategic development partner.”
The PIF is said to be central to the crown prince’s goal of making the Saudi economy less dependent on oil revenues.
PIF’s continued investments in video game companies may raise concerns for some, given Saudi Arabia’s long history of human rights abuses. In particular, the crown prince has been accused of ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
