Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has acquired 96 percent of Japanese developer SNK. This means that through his Electronic Gaming Development Company, he now owns virtually all of the developer behind Fatal Fury, Metal Slug, and The King of Fighters games.

“The investment of the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation (MiSK Foundation) in the Japanese company SNK reinforces its continued commitment to its goals of empowering Saudi men and women through the creation of economic associations, within the updated strategy of the Foundation to maximize the positive impact on youth empowerment,” said a press release when the investment was first proposed last year.

Curiously, the agreement was formalized in February this year, but it hasn’t come to light until recently, implying that SNK may not have been interested in publicizing the deal widely. Confirmation of the investment was discovered as part of SNK’s exclusive files from February 15, 2022. That it was not wanted to be disclosed, it may be because in 2021, a US intelligence report discovered that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved a plan to “capture or kill” journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

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This is the latest in a series of investments in the video game sector by companies associated with the crown prince. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that the nation’s Public Investment Fund has been used to invest holdings of more than 5% in both Capcom and Nexon. These investments totaled more than 1,000 million dollars. In December 2020, the fund purchased more than $3 billion in shares of Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Take-Two.

via: VGC