Savvy Games Group, which is backed by the Saudi government's Public Investment Fund, has entered into an agreement to acquire Scopely, a mobile games studio renowned for its successful titles such as Marvel Strike Force, Yahtzee With Buddies, Scrabble Go, Stumble Guys and Star Trek Fleet Command. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.

Los Angeles-based Scopely was founded in 2011 and, after a funding round that raised $340 million, has reached a valuation of $3.3 billion in 2020. Its valuation increased to US$5.4 billion in 2021 following Sony's acquisition of GSN Games for US$1 billion. Scopely's co-directors Walter Driver and Javier Ferreira will continue to lead the company. Savvy Games is led by CEO Brian Ward, who has previous experience at Activision Blizzard, Microsoft Games Studios and Electronic Arts.

The acquisition of Scopely by Savvy Games Group represents the sixth largest acquisition in video game history in terms of price. The top five are Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard for USD 68.7 billion (still pending), Take-Two's acquisition of Zynga for USD 12.7 billion, Tencent's acquisition of Supercell for USD 8.6 billion, Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax for USD 8.1 billion and Activision's acquisition of King for USD 5.9 billion. In 2022, the global eSports market was worth just over USD 1.38 billion and is projected to reach USD 1.87 billion by 2025. Currently, Asia and North America are the largest eSports markets in terms of revenue, with China alone accounting for nearly 20% of this market.

In an effort to reduce its dependence on oil revenues, Saudi Arabia is investing in various sectors, including electric vehicles, tourism and gaming. Recently, Bloomberg reported that the Saudi government plans to invest $38 billion to become the next hub of the video game industry. According to analysts at Niko Partners, there are approximately 21 million gamers in the country, representing about 58% of its population. By comparison, 66% of the population in the US is involved in gaming. The gaming market in the MENA region is expected to grow 56% to US$2.79 billion by 2026.