The DeanBeat: Two stories that show the opportunity and heartbreak of modern gaming
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Yesterday, two stories told the tale of the modern game industry. On the one hand, heartbreak. On the other, massive opportunity.
Google announced that its Stadia cloud gaming service would shut down in January 2023, ending a high-profile bet to provide console-like quality games over the cloud to just about any user hardware. The company had spent a lot of money on each game it acquired (according to Bloomberg) and the masses of subscribers for the service never materialized.
Meanwhile, Savvy Games Group unveiled plans to invest $38 billion in gaming through 2030 to turn Saudi Arabia into a leader in gaming and esports. That was a stunning announcement about the confidence that the Saudis have in gaming as the future of entertainment and the key to the metaverse. Savvy will spend $13.3 billion in acquiring a big publisher, invest another $18.7 billion in minority stakes in other publishers, pour $533 million into early-stage gaming and esports companies, and then put $5.3 billion into mature companies that can be partners for Savvy.
Savvy already owns gaming and esports properties such as Nine66, VOV, ESL, FaceIt Group, and the FaceItSavvy Games Fund. The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund already has big stakes in Nintendo, Capcom, Nexon and Embracer Group. The goal is to create 250 game companies in Saudi Arabia and create 39,000 jobs by 2030.
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Saudi Arabia has a lot of challenges around human
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