Saudi Arabia’s PIF adds to games push with 5% Nintendo stake

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund reported a 5.01 per cent stake in Nintendo Co., according to a filing to Japan’s Finance Ministry, adding to investments in the country’s games industry.

The filing shows the purchase was made for investment purposes. The 5.01 per cent holding would make PIF Nintendo’s fifth-largest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Kyoto-based company reported lackluster financial results last week as the creator of Super Mario struggles to revitalise its five-year-old Switch console and manage a global chip shortage. The company projected full-year operating income below analysts’ estimates and said it’s expecting to sell 21 million Switch devices this year, shy of the 21.7 million anticipated.

The PIF, as the $500bn fund is known, has been building stakes in video game makers and e-sports over the past two years. The Public Investment Fund has disclosed stakes of more than 5 per cent in two Japan-listed gaming firms: Capcom Co., the maker of the Street Fighter and Resident Evil franchises, and online games provider Nexon Co.

Japan’s gaming companies have been the subject of speculation amid a broader wave of consolidation in the video games industry, ever since Microsoft Corp. announced the $69bn Activision Blizzard purchase. Sony Group Corp. is also buying Bungie, the US video game developer behind the popular Destiny and Halo franchises, for $3.6bn.