Embracer Group, the new owner of Tomb Raider and Deus Ex, received a major cash injection in the form of a $1 billion investment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).
If you’re not already familiar with Embracer, it’s the Swedish holding company and ultimate owner of a host of more familiar game developers, including Saber, the team behind the Halo Anniversary remaster and the recent Evil Dead game. Gearbox, producer of Borderlands; and Coffee Stain Studios, developer of Goat Simulator. So. The Saudi Public Investment Fund now owns a stake in Goat Simulator. There is a sentence that I did not expect to write today.
Embracer has issued 100 million shares to a unit of funds called Savvy Gaming Group, which aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s investment portfolio in gaming and other entertainment companies. This follows Embracer’s purchases in May of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal, creators of Tomb Raider and Deus Ex. They now join the creator of Saints Row Volition and the developer of the Metro 4A series in the impressive catalog of Embracing Studios.
Following an investment by the investment fund’s Savvy Gaming Group, he now owns 8.1% of all Embracer operations, making him the organization’s second-largest owner. This follows the 5.01% stake the fund acquired in May in Nintendo, marking its third investment in the Japanese god of gaming.
In advance, in February, PIF will spend 1 million dollars for a 5% share of Capcom, the developer of Resident Evil and Street Fighter, and Nexon, the company that controls the edition of games like Final Fantasy XIV, in Korea from the south.
And going back even further, in December 2020, the Foundation bought stock in Activision-Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two for $3 billion. Apart from gambling, you may also recognize the PIF name from October 2021 when the company spent £300m to buy Newcastle United Football Club.
Embracer plans to use the PIF investment to continue to acquire other game studios and expand its operations in Saudi Arabia itself.
“Savvy Gaming Group’s $1 billion investment allows us to continue our strategy from a position of strength in the global gaming industry,” says company founder and CEO Lars Wingefors in a statement to shareholders. . “By visiting Saudi Arabia, I saw first-hand the gaming community and the opportunities. Our relationship with Savvy Gaming Group will allow us to establish a regional hub in Saudi Arabia from which we can invest in the Middle East and North Africa. [Middle East and North Africa] Region.”
However, Saudi investments in gambling and other industries have become a concern due to human rights abuses in the country. L’Initiative de mesure des droits de l’homme, an annual report on the abuses of the government and the État for militants and university students, classe l’Arabie saoudite au deuxième rang des pires pays sur 36 scores de qualité des droits of the man.
Source : PC Gamesn
