Riyadh continues to bet big on video games, adopting a multi-tiered approach to dealmaking. Gaming studio Scopely — which is owned by Public Investment Fund’s Savvy Games — is buying a majority stake in Turkish studio Loom Games, in a deal worth up to $1 billion. Savvy itself is in talks to buy China’s Moonton for a mooted $6 billion, but the biggest deals are still being done at the PIF level: The sovereign wealth fund is leading a $55 billion bid to take Electronic Arts private.
Savvy is being entrusted with more PIF assets though. Its parent fund recently handed it a $3 billion stake in Take Two Interactive, the studio behind the Grand Theft Auto series. Last month, several other investments were also transferred, including PIF’s stakes in Nintendo, an expansion that could propel Savvy into the ranks of the world’s biggest gaming companies, if the EA stake is rolled in.