Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is believed to be running short of funds for new investments after years of rising spending in the gaming and e-sports sector.
The New York Times reports this. that the fund does not currently have a huge amount of capital to deploy due to the fact that a number of the projects it has invested in are in “financial difficulty.”
These include the hugely ambitious new urban area of Neom, which was to be built in Tabuk province but has faced serious construction problems. which were associated with unrealistic planning. Other businesses that have yet to see a return on investment include a coffee company, a cruise ship and an electric vehicle startup. None of the assets identified as distressed are from the video game industry, in which PIF has been a major investor in recent years.
PIF estimates its total asset investments to be nearly $1 trillion, but much of it is assets that are difficult to sell and lack public valuations; as a result, according to the NYT, PIF officials told international investors that they were “unable to make any distributions” for the immediate future.
Despite this, PIF spokesman Marwan Bakrali told the newspaper that it has $60 billion in cash and “similar financial instruments.”
Recently PIF was one of the parties involved in the acquisition of American publishing giant Electronic Arts along with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. The $55 billion deal has not yet been finalized, although EA CEO Andrew Wilson said it should close in the first quarter of fiscal 2027.
Beyond EA's megaton purchase, the gaming industry has significant influence in Saudi Arabia; The Public Investment Fund owns Savvy Games Group, which in turn is parent company of Scopely, creator of Monopoly Go And Niantic, known for Pokémon Go.
This is in addition to PIF's stakes in a number of developers and publishers.. This includes Capcom, Nexon, Embracer Group, Nintendo and Take-Two, as well as significant investments in esports. Saudi Arabia was scheduled to host the Olympic eSports Games in 2027, but the ESports World Cup and the I.O.C. stopped working together earlier this month.
