Saudi Arabia now owns 96% of SNK Corporation

We’ve learned Saudi Arabia now owns 96% of SNK Corporation, news now confirmed via their latest operations filing. The new filing, via SNK’s Korean business operations division, confirms Saudi Arabia now owns 96% of SNK Corporation, upping their original stake of 33% from back in 2020.

[Terry_B]

okaaaaay. ;(

[VenomUK]

People say Microsoft, a US firm, cannot buy Japanese video game publishers because of government rules barring foreign purchasers buying them, but now Saudi Arabian organisations have bought most of SNK. I'm not familiar with Japanese business law but doesn't this mean that Microsoft is free to buy any Japanese company it wants?

Including Sega, Bandai-Namco, Capcom, Koei-Tecmo, Konami and Square-Enix?

[CptDville]

Why the downvote!? It’s a legitimate question that I would also like to know.

[Eonjay]

Well to be sure Saudi Arabia didn't buy the company outright. They do however own a majority share. Also, its important to remember that its the government itself that owns the share not another company. We do know that anyone can invest in Japanese companies. The more interesting question is why did SA do this. What is their goal here. Also, can SA then sell its share to another company? Or do they acutally plan on effectivly controling the Japanese company itself? So many questions here.

[Skywalker333]

The legislation of Japan most people are referring to and erroneously think its an outright ban to foreign sales is in reality something quite different. It was made for security reasons, to ensure that companies important to the national safety of Japan are not bought from foreign entities. At the same time, the legislation states that any such purchases will need to be checked and approved by the proper authorities.
Buying a video game company is not a threat to national security so such a sale would easily pass the checks.
So yes, MS can buy japanese game devs if they decide to do so. The fact that they haven't (apart from Tango who they got as part of the Bethesda deal), is not so much due to restrictions but due to their own choices and plans.

[Terry_B]

SNK was much smaller a few years ago, and was bought by the Chinese Company Ledo Millenium in 2015.

Saudi Arabia actually bought it from this Chinese Company now. SNk is also not in the same category as big companys like Capcom, Bandai, Sega etc. Japanese Companies of a specific "small size" can be bought I guess but in this case SNk was not even bought..at least not completely.

[VenomUK]

Thank you @Skywalker333 for the explanation, that makes things a lot clearer. I now know that when it comes to Japanese publishers - anything is possible.

@CptDville. 👍🏼

[Yi-Long]

I guess Mai is gonna look a bit different from now on …

[CrimsonWing69]

Well... there goes any fun with character designs. Guess that's one way to kill a franchise.

[Bolsterli]

No wonder we've seen a bunch of Arabic themed characters shoehorned into fighting games recently.

[CrimsonWing69]

Just curious, who are all these “shoehorned” characters and which games? I know of Street Fighter V, but I’d hardly say that’s “shoehorned” in considering its freaking world fighters…

[NotoriousWhiz]

Didn't you know? All non-white fighters are "shoe horned" into their games. In fact any game with a non white character has been "shoe horned". The Jetsons got it right. Not a single character in their show was shoe horned in.

[pietro1212]

I wondering the same thing because I can only think of few characters and one of them has been around since Street Fighter 2

[Terry_B]

The arabian guy in Tekken 7 and the dlc character in KOF XIV..forgot even her /his name already.

[FanboysKiller]

Kof50 will still look the same ,game mechanics won't change.

[UltimateOwnage]

Lots of down votes here for what seems to be a unusual sort of takeover of a classic gaming company, which I also find good reason to dislike simply because I prefer to see these studios stay free of overlords and artistic regulation by their keepers. What’s the basis for the down votes anyways, it comes off as woke voting.

[Bolsterli]

ikr?
Weird times.

[Eonjay]

Honestly, I don't think SA would exercise strict cultural oversight over SNK games. The reason I feel this way is because I think that doing so would devalue the company itself and I can't think of any logical reason why Saudi Arabia would buy this stake only to devalue it. This HAS to be about making money and nothing more. I think they want to sell the stake and make money off of it. Censorship would only devalue the stake.

[neutralgamer1992]

Don't worry guys this isn't the same Saudi Arabia that y'all are imagining due to media or some misinformation. They have no problems having lil Wayne concerts and partying a game wouldn't even even be an issue

Coming from a fellow Muslim country citizen. They have so much money now that they simply don't care

[sourOG]

I think it’s more about the country itself buying up game companies. People have a problem with tencent buying up all of these companies because all Chinese companies are essentially run by the communist party.

Being at the whim of your government or even forced to being a propagating force is a problem for me as an American. Our system was built out of a distrust for governments lol. We are brainwashed from day one but I agree with it honestly. I don’t want the American government buying up game companies to promote their lies either. Or the Trudeau regime buying rockstar lmao. Could you imagine?

On the other side Its becoming clear to me that “neutral” is not a position for any business in the American economy anymore. You can’t sell your shit without an included alliance manifesto. I can’t really blame these guys for selling out to Saudi princes and communist regimes. Weird times.

[neutralgamer1992]

I don't think this is the right platform to make my point but if anyone is interested just research MBS

And the days of neutral are over my friend. Either you are far right or far left because for some weird reason middle doesn't exists anymore

[DeathTouch]

Tencent and other Chinese companies are not “run by communist parties”. They are private capitalist companies that actually SUFFER with the communist party regulations. Why do you think Tencent branches out so much from China? To keep their moneyz off of Chinese government’s hands.

TL;DR not even Chinese companies really like China. They just have to abide.

[sourOG]

@death

“All Chinese companies are essentially run by the communist party” = “they just have to abide.” You didn’t correct me lol.

[DeathTouch]

…? Every company has to abide to every country regulation they are based in. It doesn’t mean the country “runs them”.

[sourOG]

@death
Yes it does Lmao. Not every country has communist regulations they have to abide by.

[DeathTouch]

@sourOG … Every country has regulations. Japan can’t even show dicks in the porn industry. EUA is obsessed with how to address race and boycott the female body in any media. As for taxes, each country has their own, Brazil for exemple might as well be a communist country, since its taxes are so f*king expensive.

Don’t be dense.

[sourOG]

You’re still not disagreeing with anything I said. You are being dense. Yes, every legitimate business is run through regulation and taxed to shit. No matter what country. Regulations “run” shit lmao.

Not every business is forced to comply with communist police state regulations. If China says give me your source code and the the information of every user then you have to comply. What are you going to say “No I’m a private capitalist corporation”? Lmao.

I agree that all regulations and taxes are somewhat communist but here in America it’s not our government that censors us. Our culture and corporations censor us. Regulations are a necessity. It’s not the same thing we are all different. China is a communist police state. It’s not just “regulations”.

[DeathTouch]

Simplistic world view of binaries and blacks and whites, hence why I’m not and will not agree with you. China is hardly solely a communist state. It’s not only a pivotal country in making the wheels of capitalism as we know it spin, it is, arguably, it’s power engine for several segments, specially the movie industry.

Tencent has branched out so much now that they might as well move their parental company to USA… if there were any incentives in that: there isn’t, because for all the communism China has, it’s still extremely profitable for them.

Do not confuse China with North Korea. In a police state Tencent wouldn’t even exist, let alone thrive to be the biggest gaming company in the world, for better AND worse.

[sourOG]

The truth is often simplistic whether you agree or not. I’m well aware of the Chinese communist influence on Hollywood, NBA, activision. I wouldn’t agree that it’s pivotal or boon for our way of life. In fact, I think the Chinese influence on our companies to be detrimental and the polar opposite. I support the full decoupling of the US and China. I don’t support treating China as an “ordinary country with common regulations”. It’s not some magical grey area for deep thinkers, it’s just not true.

Yes what reason would the communist party have for branching out their companies internationally? Didn’t Microsoft have to buy TikTok just so they could keep operating in the US? All it does is fill Chinese databases full of your information. Most China tech does. China knows more about us than our own government does.

I see no difference between CCP and NK. A boot on the neck of their people. The Shanghai stories coming out now are atrocious. Locking down and staving their people, driving them to madness. The Chinese people deserve better just like the North Koreans do. Their companies doing shitty things “because they have to” doesn’t excuse them doing shitty things.

We obviously aren’t going to agree or learn from each other. I want to decouple completely, you want praise their role in capitalism lol. They are almost as good as the US at manipulating their currency, I’ll give them that. It’s been a fun convo but there is nothing left to say. We don’t need to keep circling, Cheers.

[S2Killinit]

Ladies cover up you assets.

[MeteorPanda]

https://gurugamer.com/espor...

The king is a gamer. Don't be so quick to judge.

[S2Killinit]

He is also a murderer. Chopping people up in hotel rooms.

[Knightofelemia]

I don't know what's worse working for a company owned by Chinese, working for a company owned by Saudi's or working for a company owned by EA. Too bad for SNK I really feel sorry for them now so I am going to guess Mai Shiranui is going to be heavily censored now.

[GameBoyColor]

Prob won't change much, they were already a majority owner during kof xv development and yalls precious mai still has her boobs.

[frostypants]

Oof. SA should be treated the same way we're treating Russia. But they get a pass because oil. Gross.

[plmkoh]

Watch how no one cares because the US didn't tell you to hate them.