GamesBeat: Is there a feeling of progress as you come out of COVID? Esports had to take some huge hits during that time. This is the second version of both the G8 and the NWF. Gamers8 started during COVID as Gamers Without Borders, for charity relief. Ward: This is the second version of Next World Forum. GamesBeat: Is that a first for them, or have they been doing them before? The conference next week will be a good one. There are plans for that tournament to be bigger and more robust next year. The EFG folks are in the middle of executing on Gamers8. There have been some hiccups in the sector generally with publisher spend on esports this year, but overall the business has been doing great. The viewership, the hours watched have been up. The live attendance on all the majors this year has been up. GamesBeat: On things like esports, I wonder how much focus you have on MENA (Middle East/North Africa) versus the wider world. They’ve been a pleasure to work with in that regard. The people are working super hard on integration. We’re obviously delighted to have closed the transaction with Scopely. GamesBeat: How are things going since then? Especially with acquiring Scopely. GamesBeat: You guys were busy buying somebody. Savvy Games Group CEO Brian Ward at Gamescom.īrian Ward: Sorry I wasn’t able to meet before.
Here’s an edited transcript of our interview. I caught up with Ward in an interview at the company’s booth at the Gamescom expo in Cologne, Germany. Ward has said the company aims to become a great games company and is not tied to a specific political agenda and he is not there for an “image makeover project.” While change may be happening, it’s not happening fast enough for critics. Still, given the fact that being gay is illegal in Saudi Arabia, The Last of Us Part 2 was banned in the country for having gay women in its leading roles. Ward pointed out in an interview with GamesBeat that the country is undergoing change when it comes to women’s rights and other freedoms, and it is serious about creating transformative results when it comes to diversity and new jobs associated with game studios. Saudi defenders say that all major sources of money in the world are tainted in some way, and accepting money from the Saudis does not mean you have to accept interference from the Saudis or embrace their agenda. As crown prince and prime minister, he was connected to the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 via alleged killers who had ties to the crown prince.Īccepting funding from the Saudis under such a regime represents a moral quandary, as the Saudis have become a big source of funding in their efforts to diversify beyond their dependence on oil, which the world is in the process of moving away from in pursuit of clean energy. Critics say that the regime of Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud doesn’t respect human rights. The Line is going to be a linear city in Saudi Arabia that could cost $500 billion to build.įor the games industry, this influx of Saudi money into games is not without controversy, as the Saudi funding is controversial and the company has only been at it since November 2021. The country understands that the oil economy could dry up in the next 27 years, and it has to have other jobs ready - and they are trickling in so far. The Saudis announced it in 2016, but the country remained about 74% dependent on oil exports as of 2021. The Saudi Vision 2030 is a government program launched by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to diversify economically, socially and culturally, in line with the vision of bin Salman.
It’s a sign that the government is serious about weaning the country from oil. That’s more money than anyone around the world is earmarking for gaming investments and acquisitions. Savvy’s big stakeholder, the Public Investment Fund (run by the Saudi Arabian government) is flush with cash from the oil boom and it has set aside $37.8 billion to build up Saudi Arabia’s presence in the global games industry – with $13.3 billion of that earmarked for acquiring a major publisher. That has made the gaming world take notice. And the Saudis have also bought stakes in Capcom, Nexon and Nintendo this year, building on stakes it acquired previously in Activision Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive and Electronic Arts. It also acquired ESL Gaming and FaceIt in esports to create ESL FaceIt Group. Savvy Games Group acquired Los Angeles-based mobile game publisher Scopely for $4.9 billion in April, and it bought a $1 billion stake in Sweden-based game publisher Embracer Group. Learn More The fortress MasMak at the heart of Riyadh.
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