Saudi Video Game Giant Savvy CEO Brian Ward Is Stepping Down

Savvy Games Group Chief Executive Officer Brian Ward, who oversaw the Saudi Arabian government’s $38 billion investment in the video-game industry, is stepping down, according to a message he sent to staff on Tuesday that was reviewed by Bloomberg News.

“As Savvy embarks on its next period of transformational growth, this is the right time for new leadership for that evolution,” he wrote.

Turqi Alnowaiser, who is deputy governor of the Public Investment Fund and Head of International Investments Division, will be interim acting CEO.

Since 2021, Ward stewarded the country’s push into video games as a way to diversify the economy away from oil, with mixed results. Well-timed purchases like Monopoly Go-maker Scopely, for $4.9 billion, gave Savvy ownership of a game that reached $6 billion in revenue in record time. Yet Savvy’s investment in esports resulted in layoffs and no further plans for investment in esports.

Ward told Bloomberg News in March that fighting in the Middle East would likely cool the region’s prospects for becoming a video-game hub. In May the Esports World Cup was moved to Paris from Riyadh as the US war with Iran dragged on.

Prior to his role at Savvy, Ward had never held a CEO position at a video-game firm. The leadership change occurs as the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which oversees Savvy, digests its $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts Inc., one of the largest video-game deals ever.

The Electronic Arts transaction prompted concern internally at Savvy over how the two giant Saudi-owned video-game businesses will be run, according to people with knowledge of the companies who asked to not be identified.

Under Ward, Savvy also scooped up Pokemon Go from Niantic Inc. and a variety of esports firms. In January, the PIF transferred approximately $12 billion worth of shares in video-game companies, including firms like Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. and Nintendo Co. to Savvy. The company is still waiting to close its $6 billion acquisition of mobile gaming business Moonton Games.

The Public Investment Fund is reining in some of its riskier bets in favor of more disciplined investing, replacing several executives. Amit Midha, the chief executive officer of its technology fund Alat, departed earlier this year. Martijn Blanken, who ran space company Neo Space Group, also left. Golf venture LIV Golf may file for bankruptcy after the PIF pulled back on funding, the Financial Times reported.

Savvy had invested about $13 billion of its $38 billion, Ward said in March. The company is still considered a major buyer in the games industry, which has already seen a tremendous amount of consolidation and restructuring in recent years.