An investment fund connected to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) has acquired roughly five percent of Capcom, as the country continues to invest in the video game industry.
This fund – the Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC) has bought 26.78m shares of the Japanese video game giant, which comes to around 5.03 percent of total shares. This fund also owns the entirety of SNK – the developer behind Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and the King of Fighters series.
The EGDC has said, as part of a report to the Kanto Local Finance Bureau, this share purchase is “pure investment”. This essentially means it would aim to gain profits from the valuation of the stocks going up. Capcom’s recent releases have propelled the company into something of a golden age, with Resident Evil Requiem the latest example of a smash hit triple-A release.
That’s only half the picture though, as the PIF already directly bought roughly five percent of Capcom shares back in 2022. In total, the nation now owns just over one tenth of the company.
Saudi Arabia has been on something of a spending spree as of late. Not only has it bought Pokemon Go developer Scopely for $3.5bn, the nation’s wealth fund is also heavily involved (alongside private equity firms) in a record-breaking $55bn deal to acquire EA. That final transaction, while not yet a reality, would be the largest acquisition in history.
The PIF’s trend of purchases has been labeled by human rights organisations as an attempt to wash the reputation of the nation, as well as diversify Saudi Arabia’s revenue via investment in foreign companies. It’s chaired by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA claims arranged the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and upheld the country’s notoriously poor human rights record.
