Boss Mysteriously Exits Saudi Arabia's $38 Billion Gaming Fund

Brian Ward, the chief executive of Savvy Games Group—the roughly $38 billion fund spearheading Saudi Arabia’s investments in electronic entertainment—has stepped down, and Turqi Alnowaiser, governor of the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will serve as interim CEO. Savvy Games Group has been the vehicle behind major stakes and full acquisitions of global gaming companies since 2021, including the purchases of mobile publishers Scopely and Niantic, and it is currently in the process of closing a $6 billion acquisition of Chinese mobile giant Moonton Games.

“As Savvy embarks on its next period of transformational growth, this is the right time for new leadership for that evolution,” Ward wrote in a message to staff, according to company reporting.

The leadership change comes as part of broader management shifts across PIF’s portfolio amid efforts to rein in costs. Savvy has amassed a high-profile roster of gaming investments and acquisitions: beyond Scopely (maker of Monopoly Go!) and Niantic (Pokémon Go), the group retains the lion’s share of its roughly $38 billion war chest to deploy on further gaming acquisitions. Savvy’s active deal-making has also included consolidation play in esports and large-scale mobile targets.

• Fund size: approximately $38 billion under Savvy Games Group
• Recent and reported deals: acquisition of Scopely and Niantic; in-progress $6 billion purchase of Moonton Games
• Parallel investment: Saudi Arabia completed a $55 billion leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts, a direct investment by the kingdom outside Savvy

Observers note potential friction between competing Saudi investments in gaming. The $55 billion leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts—the largest leveraged buyout in history—was executed as a direct investment by the kingdom and did not run through Savvy, yet it places a significant new debt burden on EA. Bloomberg reporting highlights internal confusion at Savvy over why overlapping Saudi-backed gaming investments are being run through separate entities, and that this overlap may have contributed to the timing of Ward’s exit.

Ward’s career prior to Savvy included leadership of lottery gaming company LottoInteractive and a stint as vice president of worldwide studios at Activision in the late 2000s. His departure removes the external executive face of Savvy and temporarily replaces it with Turqi Alnowaiser, who as PIF governor sits closer to the fund’s ultimate owner. That move has been framed internally as part of an evolution toward new leadership to shepherd Savvy through its next phase of growth.

Outlook

With the Moonton transaction reportedly worth $6 billion still being finalized and the fund retaining substantial capital, Savvy Games Group remains a central actor in global gaming M&A. The interim appointment of Turqi Alnowaiser signals tighter alignment between Savvy and PIF at a time when the kingdom is both consolidating assets in gaming and managing portfolio-wide cost pressures. How the reshuffle will affect Savvy’s appetite for further blockbuster deals—or the organization of overlapping Saudi investments in companies such as Electronic Arts—remains an open question as the fund prepares for its next phase of “transformational growth.”