Savvy Gaming Group, an investment group funded by the Saudi government’s controversial Public Investment Fund (PIF), has acquired ESL for $1 trillion.
In addition, the same group also acquired the sports platform FaceIt for 500 million dollars, and in he agree other brands such as Dreamhack or ESEA are included.
PIF has already been introduced to the video game industry. In 2020, for example, a third of Japanese developer SNK acquired through the Mohammed bin Salman Charitable Foundation, and last year received $3.3 trillion in shares from Electronic Arts, Take-Two and Activision Blizzard.
ESL co-CEO Craig Levine said “our merger with FaceIt, coupled with the support of SGG, will provide us with more know-how, opportunities and resources than ever before to make our vision a reality.” .
But this sale, without a ban, does not exactly count with the support of the community, which has been strongly criticized and opposed to it. She projects her own situation in Saudi Arabia, a country where homosexuality is prohibited and punishable by death, or the prince’s involvement in the 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
