Saudi Public Investment Fund Considering Increasing Its Stake In Nintendo

Will make investments in a "friendly" way

by · Nintendo Life
Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life

The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund is considering increasing its stake in Nintendo and other gaming firms, it has been revealed.

Speaking in an interview with Japanese new agency Kyodo News, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, vice chair of the PIF's gaming unit, revealed the desire to expand but said that there was no urgency to make further investments, and that any increased stake will be made in a "friendly" manner.

PIF currently owns 8.58% of Nintendo currently, and is the largest outside investor in the company.

It has minority stakes in video game companies Nexon (10.53%), Keoi Tecmo (8.99%), and Capcom (6.60%). It also owns 96% of King of Fighters and Fatal Fury creator SNK.

Increased investment in gaming entities is part of Saudi Arabia's drive to reduce its reliance on oil exports, the nation's main source of wealth.

It initially took a 5% stake in Nintendo in 2022, increasing the stake to 6% the following year.

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[source reuters.com, via mynintendonews.com]

About Damien McFerran

Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media's sites from an editorial perspective. He's also the editor of Time Extension, the network's newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming's past glories.

Comments 29

Just a heads up before anyone jumps to conclusions-

  • Nintendo's president has stated they have plans to tackle any hostile takeovers
  • Nintendo is a public company and anyone can buy shares so they can't prevent people from doing so
  • They can however object should any shareholders from outside of Japan owning more than 10% of a company by taking it to the government (or was it courts?) to put a stop to it.

In SNKs case, I would hazard a guess that they either accepted the buyout or no longer exist and render all employees as redundant. Again, I'm not Billy Business but that's my understanding

God I hope not. I'm kind of willing to tolerate the stake they have now, reluctantly, but if we ever get to a point where they own like half of Nintendo then I'm done with Nintendo.

Where's the new neo geo that they promises years ago?

It’s only a matter of time before Nintendo becomes a bigger target of outside and outsized investment. Doubtless NCL’s legal has its best options lined up in any event

Not particularly worried considering all the facts I would've mentioned hadn't @martynstuff already done so, couldn't have said it better!

Although I’m not fond of any shareholder having too much power in a company, I can see why Nintendo is an appealing option to invest in, as they continue to produce quality products and have the trust of their customers- mainly because they don’t allow shareholders to control how they do business.

TL;DR - We know our previous investment announcements were met with less-than-stellar responses from Nintendo fans but being oil barons can no longer fund the lavish lifestyles we live due to global issues and stopping now would be the same signing our own death certificates.

I’m not exactly happy with Saudi Arabia showing this much interest in foreign investments (or any other government-owned investment firms expressing interest in the arts for that matter) but Nintendo has been pretty firm with sticking to their guns.

@martynstuff SNK was bought out by a Chinese holdings group in 2016 and that’s how Saudi Arabia was able to eventually get a majority stake in the company.

Yuck. I wasn’t aware of that. Nintendo should find some way of preventing this.

A silver lining could be that they may help keep DEI out of gaming.

@martynstuff I don't come to this comment section expecting informative responses, but here we are. Thank you!

The Saudi PIF is already ruining sport, I don't want them near my video games.

Please no, they are already ruining golf and football.

@ZebZed Is that so? I didn't know that bit. I'll take note of that in the future

Appreciate @martynstuff comments. That said, the Saudi PIF Wikipedia page is certainly a ride. Yikes.

Norwegian Oil Fund invested in Nintendo since 1997 and they earned a lot of money on it.
This oil fund isn't allowed to own more than max 10% of any company on the planet. Their own rule.

In a comedy TV series, the oil fund accidently bought 100% of Disney.

Maybe they are massive gamers themselves 😎

No thanks. Find something else to ruin.

I know people objected to this in the comments back when they first started buying shares in Nintendo and SNK due to various "human rights violations" committed by the Saudi government, but does that apply to the crown prince as well? I watched an interview with him from a year or two ago, and he seemed like a pretty chill guy. He talked about how online gaming with his buddies is a big hobby of his to help blow off steam. It was notable for being Saudi's first interview with a Western journalist in I don't know how long, and he was talking about wanting to make positive changes in the country, have a stronger relationship with neighboring countries like Israel (this was way before Oct 7th happened, so idk what his current thought process is about that one).

And he, expectedly, denied any involvement by the Saudi government in 9/11. Maybe I'm just gullible, but he seemed genuine, I believed him. He talked about how it wouldn't have made any sense, as Bin Laden was a domestic threat even when he was living there, and that's why they expelled him from the country. So, I dunno. My knowledge on Saudi Arabia is very limited, to be honest, but I didn't get bad vibes. Maybe they're changing? Or maybe I'm naive, which is also entirely possible.

@CriticalHit Their crown prince actually is. He has a squad of buddies he games with online to blow off steam. He talked about it in an interview a while back.

@Not_Soos That actually is quite interesting. And if you weren't aware, here in the United States, Hillary Clinton also likes games (at least she did back in the day; no idea about today). There's actually a photo from 1993 of her sitting on a plane playing a Game Boy.

If I ever got the chance to meet her, I'd love for her to autograph a copy of that photo for me. I don't agree with all of her politics, but it's not every day that you meet an influential politician who shares the same hobby as you.

@AstroTheGamosian Didn't she reference Pokemon in a campaign speech once? May have just been a 'for da kids' kind of comment her team told her to say, but funny if she played it.

@Not_Soos And in regard to how you thought the Crown Prince seemed genuine, that's actually how dictators get you to like them. They come across as genuine, lull you into a false sense of security, and then they take absolute power. By the time you realize anything is wrong, it's too late.

I remember seeing a photo of Joseph Stalin holding a little girl (her name was Engelsina Markizova) in his arms. In the photo, he seemed kind and grandfatherly. It became widely used for pro-Stalinist propaganda. The girl's father was later executed on false charges of being a spy for the Japanese, her mother was imprisoned and deported to Kazakhstan where she passed away from unknown circumstances, and the girl herself was shunned by her classmates and sent to live with relatives in Moscow. Furthermore, her identity was deliberately misattributed by officials to be someone else entirely. The photo began to fade into obscurity after Stalin's death and the resulting de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union.

So it is possible that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is being genuine, but it is also entirely possible that he is just appearing so in order to lull people into a false sense of security so that it makes his power grab all the smoother.

@HydroTendonMan In what way are they ruining sports? Just curious as someone who doesn't follow sports

@Mana_Knight I'm not certain about that, but it is possible that the game she was playing in the photo was either Super Mario Land or Tetris, as those two games often came bundled with the original Game Boy. As it is, the Game Boy in question belonged to her daughter, Chelsea.

According to a Snopes article about the photo, a news reporter by the name of Sara Williams tried to do some digging to see what kind of games and consoles that Hillary Clinton enjoyed, only to be told by people at the White House that it was a state secret, as revealing that info could be considered an official endorsement of one product over another.

@Not_Soos
You seem like a person with a good heart. But I'm afraid you are naive.

If this make nintendo stay away from esg/dei, it's good, but if this make nintendo doing more esg/dei stuff, it's bad. Just look at ubisoft for the end result of relying on esg, employee brain drain.

@Not_Soos

That’s just their public image. You need to ask yourself if they’re as chill as they’re trying to convey in their public image.

Please let them stay away from Nintendo.

@Not_Soos if I may also add….it doesn’t matter if he plays call of duty or not. I played COD 1,2, and 3. Does that automatically make me a good person??? I’d like to think that I am, but the answer really lies within a person’s character.

@Not_Soos If by crown Prince you mean MBS/Mohammed bin Salman, an international investigation determined that he was the one who directly ordered the killing and dismemberment of that journalist in 2018 that was all over the news, because said journalist had been critical of him. His government is authoritarian and regularly imprisons and tortures dissidents. MBS is very focused on creating a good image, but his actions ultimately speak for themselves; for example, despite being known for ending the ban on women driving, his government (since his seizure of power and purge of political opponents between 2017 and 2019) has also been responsible for more arrests of female rights activists than at any prior time in Saudi Arabia’s history.

Never assume the character of authoritarian world leaders from the tailored online gaming streams they put together. That’s their PR at work. Look into the actions they’ve taken to acquire power and what they did to perceived threats to their power.

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