Last April, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund increased its stake in SNK, the studio behind games such as Fatal Fury, Metal Slug, and King of Fighters, to 96%. Saudi Arabia has bought over 3 billion shares from many companies, such as Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two. PIF aims to profit from these investments with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Mohammed bin Salman manages the fund, the prince of Saudi Arabia, who is constantly on the agenda with the strict social rules he applies. Many events are hidden behind the curtain of secrecy. The purchases made are constantly on the schedule and cause discussions is the possibility that the rights this fund will acquire over companies may cause problems in many ways.
Speaking to VideoGamesChronicle, SNK Producer and Designer Yasuyuki Oda say this is not precisely the case. According to Oda, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund has no difficulties in management.
“For us, we’re just focusing on making games. We’re not a political company or anything like that, so it doesn’t affect us in any way. It has no – no – effect on our creative output. We have full freedom on what we want to create.”
Saudi Arabia bought a $1 billion stake in Embracer Group (about 8.1%) in June and bought 5.01% of Nintendo. PIF will also benefit from Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Also, Saudi Arabia has approved the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
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