Saudi Arabia eyes bigger stake in Nintendo

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is looking at possibly acquiring a bigger stake in Nintendo, in which it already owns an 8.58% stake. The initial 5.01% stake wasn’t even known by Nintendo until news reports.

In an interview with Kyodo News (via VGC), vice chair Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al-Saud discussed how it’s always looking at opportunities to further its investments. The Public Investment Fund encompasses various forms of entertainment ranging from films to theme parks, and as of late, video games and esports.

PIF’s bids into the gaming industry is said to be Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to make Saudi less reliant on oil proceeds. Of course, Nintendo isn’t the first game dev the fund has acquired stakes in, it also purchased $3 billion worth of Activision Blizzard stock back in 2020. It also has its hands in Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive.

All of this is amid the ongoing legal battle between Nintendo and Palworld developer Pocketpair, which has just recently released its creature capture to Japan on PS5.

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger Editor-in-Chief

Gabe has been a gamer since he was young, playing games like Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Guitar Hero, and whatever looked cool on GameFly. Ever since 2018, he's been infatuated with the inner workings of the gaming and entertainment industries, covering a wide range of topics from video games to TV and film. Starting as a contributor for PSX Extreme, he's worked his way up to its Managing Editor. Using what's he learned over the years, he founded Smash Jump to remind everyone to smash jump.