The country of Saudi Arabia now owns 5.01% of Nintendo as its Public Investment Fund (PIF) continues its chain of investments into video game companies.
As reported by Bloomberg, the country is now Nintendo’s fifth largest shareholder, though its investment was only made for investment purposes according to a filing made to Japan’s Finance Ministry.
The move is unlikely to have wider effects within Nintendo or its games but will instead be used by Saudi Arabia to learn from Nintendo’s gaming pedigree, an industry analyst said.
Hideki Yasuda of Toyo Securities told Bloomberg: “Saudi Arabia has been beefing up efforts to create its own content industry, and this series of investments in Japanese game companies is likely a way for them to learn from Japan.”
The PIF invested in Resident Evil and Street Fighter publisher Capcom in February alongside MapleStory publisher Nexon, also claiming a more than 5% stake in each company.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year invested in Grand Theft Auto V publisher Take-Two, Battlefield publisher EA, and Call of Duty’s Activision Blizzard.
These investments weren’t the first made by Prince Salman, as in 2020 he also purchased a third of Japanese fighting game company SNK, becoming the majority owner.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
