抖阴短视频

TOKYO: 抖阴短视频 is moving aggressively with its investments in more gaming companies, the Canadian industry veteran steering the kingdom鈥檚 push to become a global hub for the sector told AFP Friday.
The kingdom has already been spending heavily with a $38-billion push into gaming under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman鈥檚 Vision 2030 program, part of a plan to diversify the economy away from oil.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 pause. We don鈥檛 do neutral,鈥� Savvy Games CEO Brian Ward said in a joint interview in Japan with Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, chair of the Saudi eSports Federation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good time to be in the market, looking for good teams in studios,鈥� said Ward, a former executive at 鈥淐all of Duty鈥� maker Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Microsoft.
抖阴短视频鈥檚 Public Investment Fund (PIF) has bought stakes in 鈥淩esident Evil鈥� maker Capcom and Japanese giant Nintendo, as well as in Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts.
Savvy, a PIF subsidiary, in 2022 bought a $1.1-billion stake in Sweden鈥檚 Embracer in 2022 and bought Scopely, the US mobile games company behind 鈥淢onopoly Go!,鈥� for $4.9 billion last year.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot we want to do to get it done and to reach our targets at 2030,鈥� said Prince Faisal, who is also Savvy vice-chairman.
鈥淏ut we also want to make sure that we are taking the time to study things, to look at things. And make sure we鈥檙e making the right steps and not just throwing cash out there to see what hits,鈥� he said.
ESports World Cup
In eSports, Savvy also bought tournament organizer ESL Gaming and the platform FaceIt. Riyadh will also host the eSports World Cup in July and August, when 2,500 gamers will battle for $60 million in prize money.
Prince Faisal, who credits video games for giving him insights into real-life history, said the tournament would help put 抖阴短视频 on the global gaming map.
鈥淎 gaming industry is something you can start now and you鈥檒l see the results in five to 10 years. And so to start momentum going, to start a conversation, esports is a great entry point,鈥� he said.
抖阴短视频 aims to create 250 gaming companies and studios on its soil, 39,000 game-related jobs, be in the top three of professional gamers per capita and to produce a blockbuster 鈥淎AA鈥� game by 2030.
The objective at the same time is for gaming to account for one percent of gross domestic product, something which Prince Faisal admits 鈥渒eeps me up most at night.鈥�
鈥淥ne of the amazing things is we have a long history of storytelling in our region. It鈥檚 typical Bedouin culture is sitting around a fire telling the story,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he tools are there... I think we can come up with not just the next great game, but the next great story.鈥�
抖阴短视频鈥檚 gaming drive
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of misconceptions about Saudi and who we are as Saudis,鈥� Prince Faisal said.
鈥淎nd the best way that I can say to answer that is to come and see and what you鈥檒l see on the ground is very different than the conception that鈥檚 out there.鈥�
Ward said he had been assured that 抖阴短视频鈥檚 gaming drive would be 鈥渃onsistent with the values and culture of our industry.鈥�
鈥淲e have been given carte blanche to operate like a true games company. We don鈥檛 do anything different at Savvy being based in Riyadh than we would if we were in New York, Los Angeles, or Berlin.鈥�