Saudi wealth fund plays to win with $3.3bn in video-game stock

The video-game industry has been long favoured by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is pursuing investments in an industry long favored by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: video games. The Riyadh-based Public Investment Fund acquired more than $3 billion worth of stock in three U.S. video-game makers during the fourth quarter, according to a regulatory filing. They include Activision Blizzard Inc., Electronic Arts Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. The sovereign wealth fund, also known as PIF, is chaired by Prince Mohammed, who told Bloomberg Businessweek in 2016 that he was part of the first Saudi generation to grow up playing video games. The crown prince credited video games with sparking ingenuity in the Bloomberg Businessweek profile, while telling the New Yorker in 2018 that his favorite diversion is Call of Duty series, Activision’s best-selling franchise.