Move over Tencent. Saudi Arabia is taking over of gaming.

[KaNesDeath]

Sony recently sold their 50% stake in EVO to a obscure Indian company called Nodwin Gaming. Who also recently purchased the esport tournament organizer Starladder. Expected outcome is that Nodwin Gaming are acquiring these tournament organizers for eventual sale to the Saudi Investment Fund. In an effort for Saudi Arabia to further prop up their sports washing July-August and November events in Riyadh. *Amazon(Twitch) sponsors the arena venue. Whose CEO cellphone was hacked in 2018 by the same country because of a unfavorable newspaper article regarding their ctitical view that resulted in the state sanctioned killing of said journalist.

All but two of the 20+ games that were selected this year at the Esports World Cup saw undisclosed cash payments to the game IP owners. Most of these game studios the Saudis are a major investor in, second largest stock holder of and or just flat out own. Esport orgs that also participated were given undisclosed cash payments. These cash payments increased depending upon how many games the esport org was involved in. Each esport org was also given full payments to fly in/out and temporarily house ~50 "super fans" to fill the arena audience.



Game studios Saudi Arabia own:

• Scopely
• Niantic
• SNK Corp

Game studios Saudi Arabia are major investors in:

• Nintendo
• Capcom
• EA
• Take Two
• Nexon
• NCSoft
• Activision/Blizzard(Microsoft)

Founding partner of Gamers8 which was rebranded to Esports World Cup and the eventual second yearly event called Esports Nations Cup:

• Sony

This isnt even getting into the expanding reach that the Saudis have invested in with traditional sport leagues/franchises/teams and other forms of entertainment.

Out of all games selected in Riyadh only one refused to participate: GeoGuessr. Their competitive maps are community created by a handful of users. All of whom rejected to contribute. Two other game league players also refused to particpate. Both of which are women exclusive; ESL Impact(CS2) and Game Changers(Valorant).

Saudi Arabia are also paying six to seven figures towards gaming influencers to co-stream each event. Individuals like:

• Timthetatman
• Summit1g
• Scump
• Shroud
• XQC
• Ninja

And the list goes on.


Amount of money Saudi Arabia are throwing around in the gaming space has never been seen before. Joining the ranks of Russia and China to not have their government, people and or culture painted negatively in any form of gaming entertainment. Except Saudi Arabia isnt approaching this by banning regional sales like Russia and China. Theyre doing it through direct investment.

 

[Zazen]

Feels like an attempt to gain soft power in a country that has insane human rights issues. I definitely don’t want them taking up more space in this industry. They block a ton of games too due to censorship. Final Fantasy XVI didn’t release there and that game played it very safe. Had like one scene depicting a homosexual relationship and it was extremely tame. Crap country, just a few years ago women couldn’t even drive. I trust China even more than I do the Saudis.

 

[KaNesDeath]

Crap country, just a few years ago women couldn’t even drive. I trust China even more than I do the Saudis.

Its a different approach with identical goals. For instance one esport player who participated at the Esport World Cup this year has 'king' in his nickname. Production and audience members couldnt use his full nickname locally. For in Saudi Arabia only one king can exist. While a recent Souls-Like game release was altered globally to appease China.

 

[Madmick]

Game studios Saudi Arabia are major investors in:

• Nintendo
• Capcom
• EA
• Take Two
• Nexon
• NCSoft
• Activision/Blizzard(Microsoft)

What does "major investor" mean, here, objectively? What percent stake do they own in each of these companies?

Tencent raked in over $91bn in 2024, and nearly half of that was gaming revenue. For perspective, that's more than Sony and Nintendo combined in 2024. The company is worth nearly three quarters of a trillion dollars. It's the 14th largest company in the world by market cap. Almost all of that comes from China where they enjoy unique access to over a billion consumers in the largest economy in the world because the CCP controls exactly who is allowed to do business in their country, and how.

That leviathan isn't getting displaced.

 

[KaNesDeath]

Tencent raked in over $91bn in 2024, and nearly half of that was gaming revenue.

Saudi fund manages over one trillion in assets. Theyve already acquired a major stake in Tencents gaming(and other crossover media) marketing department years ago.

 

[Madmick]

Saudi fund manages over one trillion in assets.

On the scale of the global economy, so what? The People's Bank of China comprises a portfolio with over $45 trillion in assets.

Besides, that's not the issue. The Saudis are stretched out between countless different absurdly ambitious projects by MBS: from "The Line" to two dozen soccer stadiums more expensive than any built anywhere in the world prior to 2020 to King Salman Park to NEOM (now rebranded as "Oxagon") to "The City of Earth" to their conventional sports enterprises like the LIV golf, and too many others I care to list. "The Line" was the most ambitious infrastructure project in human history since the Wall of China, arguably, maybe even more ambitious, before it got checked by reality, and had to downscale immensely. It still might be the biggest plan ever since then, or one of the other great wonders. You could devote an entire YouTube Channel to these Saudi announcements and not run out of content to put out a new video every day. They also have a country to run.

Conversely, Tencent will shortly ascend to become a trillion dollar company, and their company is focused entirely on its own business with nearly half of that devoted to gaming.

They've already acquired a major stake in Tencents gaming(and other crossover media) marketing department years ago.

What is this "major stake"? What percent have they captured? How much stock do they own?

And while we're at it, answer the first question you were asked. You come in with all of these grandiose claims, but the moment you are asked to substantiate them with the slightest qualification...poof! Distract, dodge, disappear! Classic you. What percent stake does Saudi Arabia own in all of those other companies you named?

 

[method115]

What does "major investor" mean, here, objectively? What percent stake do they own in each of these companies?

Tencent raked in over $91bn in 2024, and nearly half of that was gaming revenue. For perspective, that's more than Sony and Nintendo combined in 2024. The company is worth nearly three quarters of a trillion dollars. It's the 14th largest company in the world by market cap. Almost all of that comes from China where they enjoy unique access to over a billion consumers in the largest economy in the world because the CCP controls exactly who is allowed to do business in their country, and how.

That leviathan isn't getting displaced.

Strange that would put Tencent as the first gaming company to reach over 30 billion in gaming Revenue. Yet it was reported that Sony was the first gaming company to do it. I tried to find information online through Tencents 2024 report but I can't read that shit to save my life.

Then google AI reports that Tencent is the largest gaming company by Revenue yet on linked in I see this:

Top 10 Gaming Companies by Revenue in 2025

As we step into 2025, the gaming industry continues to thrive, with several companies leading the way in terms of revenue and innovation. Here are the top 10 gaming companies by revenue, showcasing their achievements and popular titles: 1.

www.linkedin.com

 

[Madmick]

Strange that would put Tencent as the first gaming company to reach over 30 billion in gaming Revenue. Yet it was reported that Sony was the first gaming company to do it. I tried to find information online through Tencents 2024 report but I can't read that shit to save my life.

Then google AI reports that Tencent is the largest gaming company by Revenue yet on linked in I see this:

Top 10 Gaming Companies by Revenue in 2025

As we step into 2025, the gaming industry continues to thrive, with several companies leading the way in terms of revenue and innovation. Here are the top 10 gaming companies by revenue, showcasing their achievements and popular titles: 1.

www.linkedin.com

I just threw out some quick Googles last night. Since you wanted to scrutinize this, I just went to their financial disclosures. Tencent themselves reported only $27.1bn USD in gaming revenue in FY2024 according to their own financial disclosures. Sony reported $31.7bn. So Sony is bigger, yes. I'm not sure how the ~$44.5bn figure I saw was reached by whatever source came up in my Google for Tencent. The $91bn figure for their overall revenue is accurate.

However, Sony's figure does includes hardware sales while Tencent doesn't really make that part of their business, and doesn't count any towards their gaming revenue. So, purely as a software video game purveyor, Tencent does more revenue than Sony.

 

[KaNesDeath]

And while we're at it, answer the first question you were asked. You come in with all of these grandiose claims, but the moment you are asked to substantiate them with the slightest qualification...poof! Distract, dodge, disappear! Classic you. What percent stake does Saudi Arabia own in all of those other companies you named?

Im not going to do the legwork for you by breaking down the percentage owned of every company listed. Such information is readily available. These repeated entry level questions followed up with personal insults and or assigned labels is not worth my time.

 

[Madmick]

Im not going to do the legwork for you by breaking down the percentage owned of every company listed. Such information is readily available. These repeated entry level questions followed up with personal insults and or assigned labels is not worth my time.

If it is so "readily available", that easy to find, then why would it require "legwork" for you to track it down? Furthermore, by admitting you would have to do legwork, you admit you composed the OP with no clue what those numbers are, or what terms like "major investor" concretely indicate. You're just blowing hot air.

Concession accepted. Moving on.

All but two of the 20+ games that were selected this year at the Esports World Cup saw undisclosed cash payments to the game IP owners. Most of these game studios the Saudis are a major investor in, second largest stock holder of and or just flat out own. Esport orgs that also participated were given undisclosed cash payments.

Which of the game studios that developed these 20+ games is Saudi Arabia the "second largest stock holder of"? Can you name any?

 

[93confirmed]

I don't want then meddling in anything else over here but if they could help reboot a few of the studios and series that we inexplicably lost it might be worth it.

 

[KaNesDeath]

Boom!

Videogame maker EA in advanced talks to go private at roughly $50 billion valuation

Electronic Arts , the videogame publisher behind titles such as "FC" and "Battlefield", is in advanced talks to go private at a valuation of roughly $50 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.

www.reuters.com

 

[Zazen]

Boom!

Videogame maker EA in advanced talks to go private at roughly $50 billion valuation

Electronic Arts , the videogame publisher behind titles such as "FC" and "Battlefield", is in advanced talks to go private at a valuation of roughly $50 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.

www.reuters.com

At least China is developing their own games. These guys really have no shame. Contribute nothing and try to build soft power by buying up other countries IP. I guess that’s what happens when you just get lucky having liquid gold under your feet.

 

[Versez]

That's a major news :

Confirmed: EA are being sold to investment group led by Saudi Arabia, Silver Lake and Jared Kushner for estimated $55 billion

The publishers of Battlefield, Apex Legends, EA Sports FC and Dragon Age are in "advanced talks" to sell out to investment firms, according to reports.

www.rockpapershotgun.com

 

[KaNesDeath]

At least China is developing their own games.

If copying others ideas is developing, sure.

 

[Zazen]

If copying others ideas is developing, sure.

Yeah kind of bad timing on my part. Just saw their new anime game copies pretty much every major first party Sony game down to the exact animation and now they got a parasite eve rip off that’s pretty shameless.

 

[Zazen]

That's a major news :

Confirmed: EA are being sold to investment group led by Saudi Arabia, Silver Lake and Jared Kushner for estimated $55 billion

The publishers of Battlefield, Apex Legends, EA Sports FC and Dragon Age are in "advanced talks" to sell out to investment firms, according to reports.

www.rockpapershotgun.com

Jared Kushner behind this too. Makes me sick. Make Saudi Arabia great again.

 

[Zazen]

With each year that passes I’m convinced the future is in indie games, at least if you’re looking for a high quality experience with a team of talented and passionate artists behind it. With gaming making more money than any other entertainment industry this was always going to be a problem eventually. A lot of bad players in the game now. I’m definitely not giving EA a penny. I know far too much about Saudi Arabia government.

 

[method115]

With each year that passes I’m convinced the future is in indie games, at least if you’re looking for a high quality experience with a team of talented and passionate artists behind it. With gaming making more money than any other entertainment industry this was always going to be a problem eventually. A lot of bad players in the game now. I’m definitely not giving EA a penny. I know far too much about Saudi Arabia government.

I hope not. I’m not really into many indie games. I think this EA deal is going to come crashing down honestly. They invested so much with the expectation that AI will take over and I think they are going to get a huge reality check.

 

[Versez]

Jared Kushner behind this too. Makes me sick. Make Saudi Arabia great again.

It is what it is my friend