Saudi Public Investment Fund Reduces Its Stake In Nintendo

Update: Contrary to reports which had suggested a possible increase

by · Nintendo Life
Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life

Update [Tue 8th Oct, 2024 12:15 BST]: Following articles over the weekend that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund may seek to increase its investment in Nintendo over and above the 8.58% stake it owned, CNBC now reports that the PIF has, in fact, cut its stake in the Japanese firm.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund's stakehold has reportedly decreased by over one percentage point, according to a Japanese filing. It now stands at 7.54% (thanks, GamesIndustryBiz).

An interview given to Kyodo News was the basis for reports detailing potential interest in increasing ownership in Nintendo and other video game firms. Despite the reduction, the PIF remains one of Nintendo's largest shareholders. You can read more about the original story below.

Original Story [Sun 6th Oct, 2024 10:30 BST]: The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund is considering increasing its stake in Nintendo and other gaming firms, it has been revealed.

Speaking in an interview with Japanese news agency Kyodo News, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, vice chair of the PIF's gaming unit, revealed the desire to expand but said that there was no urgency to make further investments, and that any increased stake will be made in a "friendly" manner.

PIF currently owns 8.58% of Nintendo currently, and is the largest outside investor in the company.

It has minority stakes in video game companies Nexon (10.53%), Koei Tecmo (8.99%), and Capcom (6.60%). Meanwhile, Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman's MiSK foundation owns 96% of King of Fighters and Fatal Fury creator SNK.

Increased investment in gaming entities is part of Saudi Arabia's drive to reduce its reliance on oil exports, the nation's main source of wealth.

It initially took a 5% stake in Nintendo in 2022, increasing the stake to 6% the following year.

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News Saudi Arabia's PIF Is Reportedly Now Nintendo's Biggest Outside Investor

Update: Now 8.3%

News Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund Raises Stake In Nintendo To 6%

Up from just over 5%

[source reuters.com, via mynintendonews.com]

About Damien McFerran

Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media's sites from an editorial perspective. He's also the editor of Time Extension, the network's newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming's past glories.

Comments 111

Just a heads up before anyone jumps to conclusions-

  • Nintendo's president has stated they have plans to tackle any hostile takeovers
  • Nintendo is a public company and anyone can buy shares so they can't prevent people from doing so
  • They can however object should any shareholders from outside of Japan owning more than 10% of a company by taking it to the government (or was it courts?) to put a stop to it.

In SNKs case, I would hazard a guess that they either accepted the buyout or no longer exist and render all employees as redundant. Again, I'm not Billy Business but that's my understanding

God I hope not. I'm kind of willing to tolerate the stake they have now, reluctantly, but if we ever get to a point where they own like half of Nintendo then I'm done with Nintendo.

Where's the new neo geo that they promises years ago?

It’s only a matter of time before Nintendo becomes a bigger target of outside and outsized investment. Doubtless NCL’s legal has its best options lined up in any event

Not particularly worried considering all the facts I would've mentioned hadn't @martynstuff already done so, couldn't have said it better!

Although I’m not fond of any shareholder having too much power in a company, I can see why Nintendo is an appealing option to invest in, as they continue to produce quality products and have the trust of their customers- mainly because they don’t allow shareholders to control how they do business.

TL;DR - We know our previous investment announcements were met with less-than-stellar responses from Nintendo fans but being oil barons can no longer fund the lavish lifestyles we live due to global issues and stopping now would be the same signing our own death certificates.

I’m not exactly happy with Saudi Arabia showing this much interest in foreign investments (or any other government-owned investment firms expressing interest in the arts for that matter) but Nintendo has been pretty firm with sticking to their guns.

@martynstuff SNK was bought out by a Chinese holdings group in 2016 and that’s how Saudi Arabia was able to eventually get a majority stake in the company.

Yuck. I wasn’t aware of that. Nintendo should find some way of preventing this.

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@martynstuff I don't come to this comment section expecting informative responses, but here we are. Thank you!

The Saudi PIF is already ruining sport, I don't want them near my video games.

Please no, they are already ruining golf and football.

@ZebZed Is that so? I didn't know that bit. I'll take note of that in the future

Appreciate @martynstuff comments. That said, the Saudi PIF Wikipedia page is certainly a ride. Yikes.

Norwegian Oil Fund invested in Nintendo since 1997 and they earned a lot of money on it.
This oil fund isn't allowed to own more than max 10% of any company on the planet. Their own rule.

In a comedy TV series, the oil fund accidently bought 100% of Disney.

Maybe they are massive gamers themselves 😎

No thanks. Find something else to ruin.

I know people objected to this in the comments back when they first started buying shares in Nintendo and SNK due to various "human rights violations" committed by the Saudi government, but does that apply to the crown prince as well? I watched an interview with him from a year or two ago, and he seemed like a pretty chill guy. He talked about how online gaming with his buddies is a big hobby of his to help blow off steam. It was notable for being Saudi's first interview with a Western journalist in I don't know how long, and he was talking about wanting to make positive changes in the country, have a stronger relationship with neighboring countries like Israel (this was way before Oct 7th happened, so idk what his current thought process is about that one).

And he, expectedly, denied any involvement by the Saudi government in 9/11. Maybe I'm just gullible, but he seemed genuine, I believed him. He talked about how it wouldn't have made any sense, as Bin Laden was a domestic threat even when he was living there, and that's why they expelled him from the country. So, I dunno. My knowledge on Saudi Arabia is very limited, to be honest, but I didn't get bad vibes. Maybe they're changing? Or maybe I'm naive, which is also entirely possible.

@CriticalHit Their crown prince actually is. He has a squad of buddies he games with online to blow off steam. He talked about it in an interview a while back.

@Not_Soos That actually is quite interesting. And if you weren't aware, here in the United States, Hillary Clinton also likes games (at least she did back in the day; no idea about today). There's actually a photo from 1993 of her sitting on a plane playing a Game Boy.

If I ever got the chance to meet her, I'd love for her to autograph a copy of that photo for me. I don't agree with all of her politics, but it's not every day that you meet an influential politician who shares the same hobby as you.

@AstroTheGamosian Didn't she reference Pokemon in a campaign speech once? May have just been a 'for da kids' kind of comment her team told her to say, but funny if she played it.

@Not_Soos And in regard to how you thought the Crown Prince seemed genuine, that's actually how dictators get you to like them. They come across as genuine, lull you into a false sense of security, and then they take absolute power. By the time you realize anything is wrong, it's too late.

I remember seeing a photo of Joseph Stalin holding a little girl (her name was Engelsina Markizova) in his arms. In the photo, he seemed kind and grandfatherly. It became widely used for pro-Stalinist propaganda. The girl's father was later executed on false charges of being a spy for the Japanese, her mother was imprisoned and deported to Kazakhstan where she passed away from unknown circumstances, and the girl herself was shunned by her classmates and sent to live with relatives in Moscow. Furthermore, the identity of the girl in the photo was deliberately misattributed by officials to be someone else entirely. The photo began to fade into obscurity after Stalin's death and the resulting de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union.

So it is possible that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is being genuine, but it is also entirely possible that he is just appearing so in order to lull people into a false sense of security so that it makes his power grab all the smoother.

@HydroTendonMan In what way are they ruining sports? Just curious as someone who doesn't follow sports

@Mana_Knight I'm not certain about that, but it is possible that the game she was playing in the photo was either Super Mario Land or Tetris, as those two games often came bundled with the original Game Boy. As it is, the Game Boy in question belonged to her daughter, Chelsea.

According to a Snopes article about the photo, a news reporter by the name of Sara Williams tried to do some digging to see what kind of games and consoles that Hillary Clinton enjoyed, only to be told by people at the White House that it was a state secret, as revealing that info could be considered an official endorsement of one product over another.

@Not_Soos
You seem like a person with a good heart. But I'm afraid you are naive.

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@Not_Soos

That’s just their public image. You need to ask yourself if they’re as chill as they’re trying to convey in their public image.

Please let them stay away from Nintendo.

@Not_Soos if I may also add….it doesn’t matter if he plays call of duty or not. I played COD 1,2, and 3. Does that automatically make me a good person??? I’d like to think that I am, but the answer really lies within a person’s character.

@Not_Soos If by crown Prince you mean MBS/Mohammed bin Salman, an international investigation determined that he was the one who directly ordered the killing and dismemberment of that journalist in 2018 that was all over the news, because said journalist had been critical of him. His government is authoritarian and regularly imprisons and tortures dissidents. MBS is very focused on creating a good image, but his actions ultimately speak for themselves; for example, despite being known for ending the ban on women driving, his government (since his seizure of power and purge of political opponents between 2017 and 2019) has also been responsible for more arrests of female rights activists than at any prior time in Saudi Arabia’s history.

Never assume the character of authoritarian world leaders from the tailored online gaming streams they put together. That’s their PR at work. Look into the actions they’ve taken to acquire power and what they did to perceived threats to their power.

As @martynstuff mentioned, Im not too worried since Nintendo has means to protect themselves from hostile takeovers. And between Saudi Arabia and Blackrock, I much rather have the former owning shares than the latter. (I remember reading somewhere that Nintendo actually bans Blackrock from investing in them).

@Not_Soos The same guy who "seemed genuine" is also directly responsible for the murder and dismemberment of a journalist who opposed him. Con artists and dictators often "seem genuine", otherwise no one would ever believe them and they wouldn't be a problem.

Regarding Saudi involvement in 9/11, he's probably telling the truth in that officially, the Saudi government wasn't involved and it wouldn't make sense for them to be involved. But individual members of the government, as well as members of the Saudi royal family, most likely were, and the government is protecting them. The Saudi royal family extends to literally thousands of members, and their involvement wouldn't imply any complicity on the part of the ruling members of the family.

As others have already stated, this is nothing to worry about. Nintendo has been in the business for far too long to suddenly be outmanoeuvred through shares.

I usually don’t comment on this but I am glad Nintendo won’t allow anyone to buy them. Not Microsoft, not Saudi Arabia or anyone else. I still don’t understand that snk deal since the Japanese government really takes a close look at outsiders buying up companies in japan. I think there is something else going on besides what was listed above in this comment section but that’s just my speculation. I am an investor of Nintendo myself. I got a lot of my money on them specifically so I always watch for news about stock very closely. I get why Saudi Arabia is doing this of course but I will say that the issues in Saudi Arabia like human rights is a big deal. They still won’t really acknowledge any wrong on their part(or rather feel guilty from the things they were accused of it seems) Not that I expected them too. 😂. This just what I know from people I have talked to and read about.

@Not_Soos your heart is in the right place, but you’re just really uninformed, more than naive. If you’d like to correct that, you can.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/06/executions-saudi-arabia-record-high-crown-prince-mohammed/

Also, this has barely anything to do with making money, it’s about having more and more control on culture and their public image. It’s even more dangerous.

This is what state investment funds do. Invest. They hardly, if ever, buy the entirety of big companies like Nintendo.

@Ironcore Interesting associations made here.

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@CriticalHit Prince MBS himself is a gamer lol.

As reported in the article: "Increased investment in gaming entities is part of Saudi Arabia's drive to reduce its reliance on oil exports, the nation's main source of wealth."

Nope. I very much doubt that's true. In sport it's called sportswashing. So here it's gameswashing.

The Saudi government will probably use their ever growing stateholder bully pulpit to demand that the Muslim prayer / chant that was originally part of (but then subsequently removed from) Zelda: Ocarina of Time's "Fire Temple" theme be reinstated in all future re-releases of the game (J/k) (Or am I...? 🤣)

Shout out to @martynstuff for the great info at the top of this. This information is spot on, but I wanted to add some specific details.

Specific to Nintendo, their founding articles include a "poison pill" clause, which allows the largest stake holder to simple issue new shares if threatened with a takeover.

Specific to Japan, if a company founded in Japan is subject to a majority takeover by an entity outside of Japan, the government has the power to give control of the company back to it's original founders or a line of succession chosen in a way outlined in the founding documents (or, technically, anyone in Japan if nether of those options are viable). Everyone gets to keep their shares, but it's now effectively run as a private company, with the board of directors and all executives positions no longer voted in by shareholders. Combine this was the first point and one of the first things this new board will do is issue enough new shares to dilute the value and ensure the majority of shares return to Japan.

While not technically impossible, trying to hostilely take over a Japanese company is a really bad investment. You take on a ton of risk to enter a highly regulated market that is openly hostile to foreign investment. There are simply better ways to spend your money.

Reminder that this is a country that executes gay people. I’m opposed to any government owning shares in game companies, but this one is especially iffy.

@Andy_Witmyer Ironically and unfortunately, the urged removal was partly because there's currently religious propaganda in Saudi Arabia saying "all music is haram" Yes. All music.

Unfortunately nobody seems to have the foresight that all the call to prayers that lots of muslims praise as being "one of the most beautiful sounds they've ever heard" is in itself, music. A hymn in fact. So the televangelists in Arabia keep propping up this lie.

Speaking as someone who abandoned the whole muslim lifestyle schtick a decade ago.

@Not_Soos I mean, that's good and all, but I still don't want some rich fatcat or his government buying up huge stakes in entertainment companies.

Also understand that interviews like the one you mentioned are PR opportunities. It's a very common tactic to "sportswash" your image this way.

@martynstuff Wow, you sure were quick on the draw to explain everything. Hopefully everyone sees it too…

Sure. To distract the world from the "friendly way" they execute gay people, journalists and women accused of apostasy and adultery, etc etc. Culture washing by these oppressive regimes is disgusting.

I don't care who owns what as long as the content remains enjoyable.

First comment here. Aside from the Saudis anyone can own stock in NTDOY. I have a ton of shares (not as much as the Saudi Public Investment). I recommend Nintendo fans to own shares in their favorite company, it pays divs too!

Ugh. I didn’t know this, hugely disappointing to read. Horrendous regime guilty of horrendous crimes.

Yeah… no. Keep that evil organization away from anything good and decent in this world, please.

@Not_Soos

"...various "human rights violations" committed by the Saudi government, but does that apply to the crown prince as well? I watched an interview with him from a year or two ago, and he seemed like a pretty chill guy."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khashoggi

definitely not a chill guy ✌️

Still better than Sweet Baby Inc.

I am sure that they will not do anything to the gaming industry. They just want a good return on their investments. Money is money.

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@Damo, SNK is owned by the prince’s MiSK Foundation, not the national fund.

@HydroTendonMan @RojoDelMal @ottoecamn @HeadPirate @LavenderShroud @JohnnyMind
Thank you. That's very nice of you all to say! 😊

@Not_Soos

You've already been corrected about a dozen times, so I just wanted to add an important fact that seems to be overlooked in a lot of the replies.

Mohammed bin Salman is an absolute despot. There is no separation between him and the state. Every aspect of life, every law and every policy is the way it is because he made it so. There is no system of opposition. There are no checks and balances. There is no "other voice". If he was a chill guy, he could simply wave his hand and remove every oppressive law, grant protections to any and all minority groups, and as a bonus use around 3% of his net worth to end poverty in not only his country, but every surrounding nation.

It's important to look at things in context. This isn't a like a president or prime minister who maybe wants better for their people but lacks the power to make meaningful change. This is an absolute authority with near unlimited power.

@martynstuff

Great post.

Leaves a seriously bad taste in the mouth but as you say Nintendo are limited in what they can do to stop it.

@ottoecamn Well, it is good to hear that they ban BlackRock from investing in them. They just need to do the same with The Vanguard Group (which I believe already invests in Nintendo). Those two shareholders, in my experience, seem to force companies that they invest in to maximize profits by cutting costs, which results in mediocre (at best) products and services.

I used to work for Kroger, and they were two of the largest shareholders in the business. Any attempts to suggest new ideas to improve quality were shot down because it would have cost money (which would have meant less profits and dividends for the shareholders). And look at what has been happening with Boeing in recent years. Vanguard and BlackRock are both two of the largest shareholders in that company, as well. Even Microsoft is under their thrall, and they have been laying off people left and right.

So it says to me that there is a common denominator here with all these layoffs and decreases in quality of goods and services, and that is The Vanguard Group and BlackRock, Inc. Nintendo is wise to keep BlackRock from investing, but they need to go a step further and force Vanguard to divest if they truly want to maintain control over the quality of their games and systems.

oh hell no they better not get their corrupt hands on nintendo even though nintendo wouldnt let that happen especially since how tencent has ruined blizzard with their chinese governent politics.

@AstroTheGamosian yes, not only that, Blackrock is one of the main responsible entities for DEI (with Larry Fink being very open about it in that one interview where he talks about "forcing behaviours"), encouraging people to hire based on superficial characteristics like race, gender, and sexual identity in order to increase their ESG score and get more funding.

Please, no. Dump it into something more on brand. Weapons jump to mind.

Wow can’t wait for Switch 2 to call me a 🚬

The thread was fortunate enough to start with the best voice of reason, but obviously everyone is taking that as a personal challenge.

@ottoecamn I'm not so much worried about them pursuing a DEI agenda as I am making sure that customers are given quality goods and services, and that the employees taking care of them are properly taken care of themselves (especially when it comes to workload, wages, benefits, and scheduling).

I won't go into too much detail (lest this become a Lewis Black-style rant), but many of us at the Kroger I worked at were overworked, underpaid, and in many cases verbally abused by our managers; if anything, I likened the store to what the Japanese call a "black company".

In fact, over two-thirds of all Kroger employees make poverty wages and have to rely on side gigs or government assistance to make ends meet (even those who made salary, not hourly wages, such as my old supervisor before she was wrongfully terminated).

And hearing from people who used to work at that store who made their way to where I work now, employee morale sinks lower and lower with each passing year. It's all about how much they're being worked, how little they are being compensated, and how random their schedules are (meaning no work-life balance). DEI's got nothing to do with it.

@Coalescence

For such is the power of Nintendo!!

@Zuljaras I hope you're being sarcastic. Or are you seriously suggesting that a regime that chopped up dissidents, restricts women, and hangs LGBT people is somehow better than a consulting firm whose influence is greatly overstated?

@PKDuckman First it was a joke.

Second:

I am saying that one does not influence the gaming industry, and the other one is.

What a country is making in their own borders is none of my business. Even as horrible as it is.

It is in the human nature to be cruel and that will never change. And I doubt that Nintendo will let them influence their business. As I said they just want a good return on their investments.

With both the Saudis and the Chinese, countries with provable modern day human rights abuse records, investing heavily in games there has to be concerns about censorship and revisionist history.

I hope they do not succeed. We cannot have them poluting our games with their uncivilized way of thinking

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Nintendo like 7Eleven - crucial to national stability. We can rest at ease, they won't sell in to journalist killing regimes.

Here's a thought...

Football fans are super critical of this until their team gets rich and more competitive. Newcastle United a case in point.

If Nintendo got super rich and started releasing new Mario and Zelda games on an annual basis - just like Assassins Creed and Call of Duty and FIFA/FC - would we all go quiet on the matter too?

Not trying to be provocative... it's just the average videogame fan isn't exactly who I would expect to be up in arms about it. They're pretty much exactly how I see the football fans.

So. There we go. Obviously we're not at that point now - and we may never be there - but we are closer to it happening today than we were yesterday and who knows about tomorrow?

@EvilBear which associations was that?

gross. The Saudi regime should be torn down, not allowed to prosper

@HeadPirate @-wc- @WhensDinner @DashKappei @tektite_captain @Nanoline52 @MarcusIsCool @k8sMum @AstroTheGamosian

I appreciate everybody who took the time to educate me on the Saudi regime and provide links to various sources. I'm frankly surprised I didn't have a bunch of people tell me I shouldn't have bothered commenting if I'm uninformed on the topic and that I was spreading harmful misinformation or something. The only way to combat misinformation is to ask genuine questions, and I got a lot of respectful answers that didn't feel like I was being condescended to. If I asked the same question on Twitter, I'm sure it would have went very differently, and I'd have had a barrage of people re-tweeting me saying, "Get a load of this ****ing moron!" Lol.

I am, of course, aware of how propaganda works, but as someone who doesn't have much pre-existing knowledge about the Saudi government and only had the video to go off of, that's why I poised the question in the first place. I wanted to get a better idea on whether it was all just smoke and mirrors, and it looks like that is indeed the case. I guess I could have just googled it for myself (people on Twitter probably would have also snarkily told me to Google it myself instead of being a nuisance to them, lol) but I like engaging with the community and conversing about such things with real people.

I do have one other question though--people talk about Saudi Arabia mistreating LGBT+ individuals, and I don't doubt that's true. But I thought I remembered hearing once that the Saudi prince, or maybe someone else in royalty, was gay? Who am I thinking of? I read he was made to undergo conversion therapy but it didn't work, and now he was wanting to reform the way his government punishes people for being gay. Where did I hear that? Am I thinking of some other country?

Thank y'all!

@AstroTheGamosian I'm not a fan of Hillary Clinton myself, but that is pretty neat. I may have actually seen that picture, now that I think about it. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say she was probably just playing Tetris or something and has since gone on to become one of those old people who just plays Candy Crush on her phone, lol.

I'm reminded of a cringe line during one of her 2015 campaigns when she was talking about how the young people are all playing Pokémon Go and said something like, "What we really need is for you all to Pokémon Go to the polls!" and then smiles smugly like she just made thr most clever pun of anyone in history, lol.

@Not_Soos

Being a member of the LGTB community is punishable by torture and death. There are verified reports of members of the LGTB+ community who left the country and come out else where being assassinated by the state.

Speaking out in support of the LGTB+ community is punishable by death, either as blasphemy or as treason. There are, again, varied stories of extrajudicial assassinations of journalists or activists native to the country who left to promote LGTB+ rights.

In 2015 the government stated an official task force to pose as gay men on dating apps and aggressively attempt to arrange meetings which individuals seeking partners in the country. Several reports suggest they are given the choice of "outing" people they have had relationships with or facing prison, torture, or death.

Beyond that official law, citizens who take it upon themselves to murder individuals who they believe may be members of the LGTB+ community are rarely charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one.

And while I totally agree that we shouldn't fault people for not being informed if they are seeking information (we only know what we know, after all), in this case this is simply objective fact verifiable by a simple internet search and something you should probably have informed yourself of before making this comment on a gaming website..

Oh yes, Nintendo, give me more reasons to boycott your next console.

I also don’t get the whole:
“Human rights!”
“But he’s a gamer so he must be a nice guy!”

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@Not_Soos

Yes, I can't see why people would object to a "pretty chill" brutal murderer owning a large chunk of Nintendo stock. If he likes games, what's wrong with being a brutal murderer.

There are other things Nintendo needs to deal with more than a potential stake increase from Saudi Arabia. Besides, at least it’s not Blackrock.

@Borderlineland @PinderSchloss

I think you have a core misunderstanding about how shares work.

Nintendo went private in 1962, which is when the majority of shares were issued. That was, effectively, the last time anyone bought shares FROM Nintendo.

The shares The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund own were bought from private share holders. Nintendo isn't involved in the exchange and can't do anything to stop it. This isn't like some deal they agreed to or anything.

That's how it works for any public company. You have zero control over who buys you shares. It's even possible to buy shares in a way that the company doesn't know who owns them, and any exchanges or sales of these shares are not tracible. Again, that's just how they work. No company can "opt out" of that system.

If you want to boycott companies that The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund owns shares in, honestly power to you!

But you can't play video games, period.

They own 40 billion of Microsoft, and while their stake in Sony is relatively small at around a billion, they own a larger stake in Sony percentage wise given how much higher Microsoft's market cap. is.

They own around 10 billion of NVidia and 4 billion of AMD, so PC gaming isn't an option.

They also own about a billion of Apple, and around 5 billion in Alphabet (Google's parent).

This doesn't includes the billions they have in holding funds which in turn invest in the tech sector.

In fact you can't really even use a computer or read this website. Awkward.

@HeadPirate Thanks for that info! Don’t think it should be like this, though. But I have a hard time accepting they can’t refuse a sale. That’s wrong in so many ways.
I am actively boycotting Nintendo for various other reasons already. I’m never buying new Nintendo products, only 2nd hand. I know it’s pretty useless when millions of people don’t care about a company’s ethics. But there’s no way I can justify giving them any money after they didn’t provide the product I paid for.

So Nintendo have bought this 1% share back? Or have the Saudi group sold their share to some else (if that's possible).

@Ironcore That in discussions about the ongoing awful consolidation and corporate investment that keeps changing hands in this industry causing chaos, development time crunch, lost jobs, and terrible game quality, your take is “maybe this conservative government will keep DEI out of my video games”.

No wonder - with OLED to LCD downgraded Switch 2 incoming.

@PinderSchloss don't shoot the messenger, but if you can't justify paying for an entertainment product and STILL seek to consume it, then it's your hedonistic addictions you're flaunting in public, not your principles.

Reaction to the update: Good, now make it 0%.

@Coxula There is no conection between these two things.

@Coxula Nintendo is a partner of Sharp who made the OLED screens for the Switch. Nowadays OLED screen for handhelds are cheaper to make unlike the bigger OLED monitors so I doubt Nintendo will ever go back to LCD. Only reason why Sony abandon the OLED PS Vita and go for LCD was cause nobody was buying the PS Vita and going LCD is the only way to lower the price of that thing.

Very Nice. Earlier this year I bought some Nintendo stock and I'll probably buy more soon. Fans should have a stake in the company they like instead of large entities.

@Noxide how does one go about buying stock? I would love to know

yes i thought the original report seemed strange, as i recall hearing not long ago that Nintendo isn't happy having this type of shareholder . . . certainly wouldn't want them increasing their stake ! 😵

@Arkay You can visit your bank and ask for help, that's what I did.

Their next game is about Prince who goes around assassinating journalists with no particular reason.

@Clyde_Radcliffe The Saudi PIF (amongst other state entities in the middle east) are heavily engaged in what's known as 'sportswashing', which is an attempt to redirect interest from the nation's terrible record of human rights abuses and instead normalise the country's image on an international stage.

In football they are buying players for massively inflated sums to validate their league and in doing so are affecting the market. In addition, they are buying foreign clubs in successful leagues (see Newcastle United) and pumping in money to allow teams to transform their squads, facilities and stadiums at a rate a 'normal' club never could. State sponsored cheating in my opinion.

Not as familiar with golf but they are heavily invested there too.

@AgentMantis You say that as you have a football helmet on your profile. That's a little hypocritical.

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@HeadPirate the reality check this thread desperately needed. People sure like to spout off extreme rhetoric while lacking basic knowledge of the situation.

@LeonSKennedy This is the kind of cynical response I was expecting more of. I was asking a genuine question, and people informed me. I wasn't trying to pass my limited knowledge on the guy as objective fact. I commented to get informed because I knew there'd be people on this site who know more than me. Rather than blindly thinking the guy must be a saint based on one interview I saw, I wanted to know the truth. Are we not allowed to do that? Should we just stay in the dark and never ask questions, lest we get mocked and condescended to by someone who thinks themselves morally or intellectually superior?

@AstroTheGamosian

Always love western nations treating non western corruptors as things like dictators,etc. You've literally got a convicted felon and a prostitute as the running leaders and yet, they don't make any real decisions, AIPAC has more influence than any president. Your leaders are amongst the shadows and heavily aligned with the exact same organizations that protected Epstein and his accomplices. I wonder if Israel still actively protects convicted child predators.

Hmmm... sounds a lot like the spreading of incorrect rumours to drive up stock prices before selling. Isn't that sort of thing illegal?

Hopefully they drop the rest of it sooner rather than later as well.

@EvilBear I’m sorry but I have been advised that I am not able to discuss Saudis dislike for DEI on this site.

@Deviant-Dork fan owned. Educate yourself.

@UsernameMayne only one of the things you said actually correct.

@martynstuff snk went bust so the audis bought name from playmore that nought the rights to name

@Ironcore Fair. I’m sure they appreciate that. My only perspective is that with the consolidation of this industry, the extreme production costs AAA devs are addicted to, the innumerable jobs lost recently to Xbox’s shenanigans, the constant changing of financial hands, the goofy over-promising of Bungie and other companies, and the overall toxicity of the notion that games can have multiple or more specific target audiences, there is just so more at stake for the developers trying to put food on the table than “is this game too gay” or “does this character look like me?” I agree that a game should just be a game without politics in the mix, but sometimes the reality of life creeps in to our storytelling and the experiences games are trying to convey. Life, and the stories that we tell are messy.

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