With the aim that the economy does not depend so much on oil, Saudi Arabia buys shares in Capcom and Nexon
The last few months have been “busy” for the video game industry in terms of transactions. Just a few weeks ago Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $70 billion. Within days, Sony made official the purchase of Bungie for 3,600 million dollars. Today, the news is not carried out by any company… but by a country. Saudi Arabia buys Capcom and Nexon shares worth $1 billion, which means a 5% of the total of both companies.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund has financed this operation, with which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman intends to reverse the country’s dependence on oil. It is not the first time that they have delved into the video game market: in 2020, the same body acquired the 33% the SNK; and in December of that same year, it also invested close to 3,000 million dollars in SHE, Take Two y Activision.
Thus, Saudi Arabia has taken over Capcom shares and becomes the “owner” of mythical sagas such as Resident Evil, Monster Hunter o Street Fighter. It is worth that this movement is not going to revolutionize anything nor, probably, is it going to mean anything in terms of video game development… But it is better to be attentive just in case.
