How Saudi Arabia and Savvy’s long-term push into gaming is proceeding | Jesse Meschuk interview

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.