It’s not easy to keep up with Brian Ward, CEO of Savvy Games Group, the game company started by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
I interviewed Ward for The BIG Show at GDC Festival of Gaming. And while we were getting the show ready, Ward’s company announced it was paying more than $6 billion for Moonton Games, the gaming business of TikTok owner ByteDance.
That deal reinforced my interview with Ward where he said there was “no way” that Savvy Games Group was going to slow down and digest its big deals as the game industry continues to face challenges. Instead, Ward is doubling down.
Savvy began with Saudi money in January 2021. Ward led the acquisition of esports firms ESL and Face-It in 2022 and taking a stake in VSPO. Then Savvy acquired big gaming companies including Scopely ($4.9 billion in April 2023) and Scopely in turn bought Niantic ($3.5 billion in March 2025). And of course the Moonton deal happened since our talk.
Also, the Public Investment Fund is also part of a consortium acquiring Electronic Arts for $55 billion and Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion. Ward made it clear he didn’t speak for the PIF or for Scopely itself, but he said Savvy is making progress on its dual charter of acquiring game companies and creating 39,000 game-related jobs in Saudi Arabia by 2030.
“We’re continuing to look for great teams and opportunities to invest in great teams or acquire them and there are still great opportunities out there because people are still looking for long-term strategic capital partners,” he said.
I also asked if gaming can win the attention war. Matthew Ball of Epyllion wrote in a 165-slide deck that gaming faces threats from the likes of YouTube, TikTok, AI companions, sports betting, prediction markets and online gambling. He said that the company considers its competition to be not other game companies but rivals like those that compete for your time.
The deal with Moonton, which is focused on China, could very well turn Savvy into much more of a global company with a presence in mobile games across the whole world. Part of Ward’s goal is to hit a 50-50 split between business in the West and in the East.
We also had a good discussion about AI and whether it’s becoming useful to game creators or inside games. Should he go fast or go slow? He said we have to be cognizant of how the players expect the company to behave with regard to AI. He’s not sure the fundamentals are in place yet for AI and he feels no pressure to go faster.
“It’s not a fear of missing out, but we don’t want to be behind,” he said.
He’s more focused on making sure that talent stays happy and the company retains the right people. Ward is optimistic about gaming’s growth in emerging markets and creating culturally relevant games for people across the world. Games are how people learn, he said.
“People will still be playing games 20 years from now, 100%,” he said. And so Savvy will still be one of the “big game hunters,” he said.
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