Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has become Nintendo's biggest foreign shareholder, boosting its portfolio in the lucrative global gaming sector.
The kingdom's sovereign wealth fund raised its stake in the Japanese gaming company to 8.26 per cent, from 7.08 per cent, after a similar move on Wednesday, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.
The latest purchase was made for investment purposes, Bloomberg cited the filing as saying.
It is also the PIF's third such move this year after raised its stake in the Kyoto-based game maker to 6.07 per cent in early January.
Nintendo is the creator of the Super Mario franchise and its video-game consoles rival Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation.
Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's largest economy, has increased its investment in the multibillion-dollar gaming industry over the past two years, with new technology providing both an opportunity to reach a wider audience and develop new titles to cater to consumer demand.
The kingdom's gaming industry is poised to grow 250 per cent by 2030, with e-sports leading the growth, a recent study from YouGov found.
The growth would mean that its contribution to Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product will have surged about 50 times by 2030, compared with 2022, the London-based market research company said.
Gaming consumption in the kingdom is projected to hit $6.8 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual rate of 22 per cent, the Boston Consulting Group said in a recent report.
The global gaming sector has more than three billion gamers worldwide, according to gaming data provider Newzoo. The sector's revenue is projected to grow by about 15 per cent to $211.2 billion by 2025, from an estimated $184.4 billion in 2022, the latest estimates show.
In January 2022, the PIF launched Savvy Gaming Group (SGG), which aims to become the leading gaming and e-sports group locally and internationally, in line with its 2021-2025 strategy to drive innovation in strategic sectors such as entertainment, leisure and sports.
Since then, the fund has been aggressively investing in the gaming market.
The PIF first bought into Nintendo in May last year, when it acquired 6.5 million shares, a 5.01 per cent stake. That made the fund the fifth-largest shareholder in Nintendo at the time.
In June, the PIF, through SGG, acquired about 99.9 million shares, an 8.1 per cent stake worth $1 billion, in Swedish gaming business Embracer Group.
In September, SGG launched its new investment strategy, allocating 142 billion Saudi riyals ($38 billion) across four programmes as the kingdom seeks to become one of the world's major gaming centres.
The PIF also has stakes in Activision Blizzard, the maker of the Call of Duty series that Microsoft plans to acquire for $69 billion, Street Fighter maker Capcom, Need for Speed developer Electronic Arts and Ninja Gaiden creator Koei Tecmo.
It also owns shares in New York-based Take-Two Interactive Software and Japan's Nexon.
At the Leap technology exhibition in Riyadh earlier this month, Saudi Arabia's gaming industry received new funding worth $488 million to boost talent and development.
The funding, which is for both the gaming and e-sports sectors, was provided by the Saudi Esports Federation, the kingdom's National Development Fund and the Social Development Bank.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Armies of Sand
By Kenneth Pollack (Oxford University Press)
Ponti
Sharlene Teo, Pan Macmillan
Manchester United v Club America
When: Thursday, 9pm Arizona time (Friday UAE, 8am)
WHAT FANS WILL LOVE ABOUT RUSSIA
FANS WILL LOVE
Uber is ridiculously cheap and, as Diego Saez discovered, mush safer. A 45-minute taxi from Pulova airport to Saint Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect can cost as little as 500 roubles (Dh30).
FANS WILL LOATHE
Uber policy in Russia is that they can start the fare as soon as they arrive at the pick-up point — and oftentimes they start it even before arriving, or worse never arrive yet charge you anyway.
FANS WILL LOVE
It’s amazing how active Russians are on social media and your accounts will surge should you post while in the country. Throw in a few Cyrillic hashtags and watch your account numbers rocket.
FANS WILL LOATHE
With cold soups, bland dumplings and dried fish, Russian cuisine is not to everybody’s tastebuds. Fortunately, there are plenty Georgian restaurants to choose from, which are both excellent and economical.
FANS WILL LOVE
The World Cup will take place during St Petersburg's White Nights Festival, which means perpetual daylight in a city that genuinely never sleeps. (Think toddlers walking the streets with their grandmothers at 4am.)
FANS WILL LOATHE
The walk from Krestovsky Ostrov metro station to Saint Petersburg Arena on a rainy day makes you wonder why some of the $1.7 billion was not spent on a weather-protected walkway.
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
If you go...
Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.
Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
