The Daily Populous Wednesday November 26th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by eurogamer.net and submitted by Darth_Vaper883

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is reportedly running low on cash, following investments into projects in financial distress.

The claim comes from a new report from The New York Times, published as the crown prince of Saudi Arabia visits Washington, having spoken to a number of sources briefed on the country's operations.

Projects in financial distress include Neom, the planned utopian metropolis that's run into extensive construction issues, as well as a coffee chain, a cruise line, and an electric vehicle start-up.

The PIF claims it holds nearly $1 trillion in assets, but a "huge portion" of these are hard-to-sell assets with no public valuation. According to the NY Times, international investors have been told the PIF is "unable to allocate any more money for the foreseeable future".

While none of the mentioned projects in financial distress are in gaming, the PIF has made significant investments in the industry.

Indeed, its largest recent investment was its private acquisition of publisher EA, as part of a group of investors alongside Affinity Partners, whose CEO is US President Donald Trump's son-in-law.

Other recent gaming investments include fighting game tournament EVO, DLC for Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Mirage, and Pokémon Go developer Niantic.

As the NY Times reports, Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed is an avid gamer, which is a big motivator behind these investments.

What this reported lack of cash means for these gaming projects remains unclear, but it does suggest a potentially rockier future than the country would have you believe.

DemoEvolved on November 25th, 2025 at 17:46 UTC »

On the announcement of the leveraged buyout of ea, I did the numbers showing there’s barely enough revenue to pay the interest. So how did the fund managers not have these numbers run months before?

cerberusNLMX on November 25th, 2025 at 17:17 UTC »

Best news of the day

supified on November 25th, 2025 at 17:14 UTC »

Bankrupting their ability to buy stuff might be the greatest thing EA has ever done.