Savvy Games Group has made a lot of news as it has built the newest financial empire in games with acquisitions of companies like ESL, FaceIt, VSPO, Vindex and Scopely (for $4.9 billion). The latter has gone on to acquire Pokemon Go maker Niantic for $3.5 billion. Billions of dollars have changed hands already, yet Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is backing Savvy, has pledged to invest $37 billion in games. We’ve been privileged to have a front-seat view of this transformation.
Brian Ward has carried the flag for Savvy as CEO since the company’s creation as Saudi Arabia’s big holding company for games in 2021. But Jesse Meschuk, a 20-year game veteran, has been consulting for the last two years after spending 17 years at Activision Blizzard. In January, he was named COO of the company and he joined us on stage at GamesBeat Summit 2025 for a fireside chat.
We talked about the economic landscape of games and esports, and how esports went through its winter and games are in a post-boom reality. In that context, I asked Meschuk about Savvy’s long-term investment strategy.
We also looked at the bigger picture beyond Savvy, as Saudi Arabia is planning to diversify its economy away from oil, as many predict that oil could run out in a matter of a few decades. That means that Saudi Arabia needs to create jobs in categories like clean energy but also digital industries like games. And that’s why the PIF has set aside $37 billion for games. I asked Meschuk how that big plan translates down to the company level for Savvy.
I also asked Meschuk how Scopely, which has generated $5 billion in revenue from the success of Monopoly Go, will have its own investment strategy and how that is different from Savvy’s.
When it comes to the long term, I asked Meschuk where the growth will be, and what trends he is watching. I also bounced the Epic vs. Apple outcome off of Meschuk, and how the company balances the need for grand strategy and founder autonomy in the wake of an acq …