Savvy Games Group CEO Brian Ward talks four years of growth, major acquisitions and what comes next

• Savvy positions itself as a long-term partner for game makers rather than a hands-on operator across its business units.
• Esports remains a strategic focus, with sustainability now a core priority for the sector’s next phase of growth.
• Bringing Scopely into the group in 2023 marked one of the most significant transactions in the games industry in recent years.
• The group says its investment strategy remains unchanged despite the scale of proposed and ongoing capital commitments.

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Four years ago, Savvy Games Group existed largely as an ambition on paper. Today, it sits at the centre of some of the most consequential deals in games and esports. 

Backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to the tune of $38 billion, Savvy’s leadership believes the progress made so far is only the foundation for a much longer journey.

As the company marks its fourth anniversary, we caught up with CEO Brian Ward to discuss Savvy’s early days, new year ambitions and future acquisitions.

Meet Savvy’s internal development team Steer Studios and Monopoly Go developer Scopely at Pocket Gamer Connects london on January 19th and 20th.

PocketGamer.biz: Savvy is marking four years in the industry. What does this milestone mean for the team internally? 

Brian Ward: It means a lot for the team. Four years ago, Savvy was just a name. Fast-forward to today, and we have established leading positions across the games and esports markets globally, made a series of significant acquisitions and investments, built a very strong portfolio, expanded our Savvy HQ team, and made good progress against our objectives around KSA ecosystem building. 

As of December 2025, we celebrated our fourth anniversary in Riyadh, together with our wider teams from Steer Studios, EFG’s hub in KSA, and Scopely’s Riyadh-based studio Mirai. It was energising to come together as one team, reflecting on what has been achieved, and looking forward to an exciting future. 

I think everybody at Savvy has a shared sense of the strong progress we’ve made over the last four years, while staying grounded in the understanding that there’s still a lot to do in the years ahead. 

What’s an important lesson the past four years have taught you? 

A lot has happened since Savvy’s launch. We have put some points on the board, made significant acquisitions, spent time building our governance and capabilities at the group level, and we continue to pursue further growth and portfolio expansion. 

On reflection, I would say maintaining our commitment to letting our business units do what they do best, and providing the right support – whether strategic, capital, or something else – has been extremely important. 

Looking back to 2021, how did Savvy take shape in its earliest days, and what challenges or opportunities defined that post-COVID starting point? 

Savvy was established in November 2021, with the ambition of becoming a global leader in games and esports, supported by our shareholder, the Public Investment Fund, and our Board Chairman, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. 

Soon after our founding, we saw an opportunity in the esports space and made our first move quickly, acquiring ESL and FACEIT and merging them into ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) in early 2022, establishing our leadership in esports. In 2023, we brought Scopely onboard, marking a significant transaction for the industry. 

While already a major industry player with its diverse games portfolio and audience, we have been delighted to see the ongoing growth and success that Scopely has achieved in the last two years. 

Most notably Monopoly Go, which quickly became the most successful mobile game launch of all time, followed by the acquisition of Niantic’s games business in 2025.

I think these acquisitions are aligned and continue to align with our mission to drive the long-term growth and innovation of the global games and esports industry. 

Tell us more about the Scopely acquisition. How has the partnership unfolded compared to initial expectations? 

It’s actually been over two years, which is incredible when one reflects on what the team has achieved since 2023. The Scopely organisation has done, and continues to do, an amazing job delivering for their global player communities, maintaining live game innovation, achieving transformational partnerships and acquisitions, and ultimately executing world-class game making. 

I heard an impressive statistic recently that puts Scopely’s scale in context – if the people who played Scopely’s games over the last 12 months were a country, they would be the third largest country in the world. It’s incredible how many people Scopely is impacting each day with experiences that bring them meaning, joy, and belonging. 

Based on this figure alone, I think it is fair to say that our partnership goes from strength-to-strength, and I am delighted that the Scopely team continues to expand and pursue big ambitions. There is much more to come from Scopely, and our Savvy team remains committed to supporting them in achieving their ambitions. 

On that note, what has Scopely enabled Savvy to achieve that would have been difficult without that acquisition? 

I think the Scopely acquisition was a tangible example of Savvy doing what we said we would do – supporting the long-term growth of the games industry.

Scopely calls itself a “learning machine”, and it’s been great to learn from one another and be part of a broader ecosystem of fantastic talent. 

Does Savvy still see esports as a growth engine worth doubling down on? Or has the strategy evolved away from heavy esports investment? 

We have already made significant investments in esports since our launch, and are also investing in Hero Esports, Asia’s leading esports entity.

With this leadership position in the sector, our shared focus with EFG is to play our role in helping the industry to become sustainable. 

Esports continues to grow with a highly engaged, digitally native audience. This audience is incredibly valuable to endemic brands, but also more traditional companies from other sectors who are looking to engage with a younger demographic. 

What’s next for Savvy in terms of M&As? Are there specific segments, technologies or regions that Savvy now considers higher priority for investment than before? 

Savvy’s strategy and the support of our shareholders remain unchanged. We want to be a place for the world’s most ambitious game makers to come and create, and we continue aiming to convene the best talent, teams, and game communities across the globe. 

We are always interested in opportunities that would enable us to establish a category-leading position in a genre where we don’t already have a presence.

On top of this, there are other factors of course, including the studio or the team, their long-term aspirations, and geographical spread and balance. We remain excited about the future.

What does success look like for Savvy in 2030? And if four years from now Saudi Arabia hasn’t met its Vision 2030 gaming goals, what do you think the biggest barrier will have been? 

Building a whole sector and ecosystem from scratch to self-sustainability is a massive endeavour that requires resources, effort, and coordination from many different stakeholders, across a wide range of subject areas – from education to hard infrastructure, from policies to partnerships. 

These are ambitious goals, but if any nation could do it, it would be Saudi Arabia, given the significant commitment to games and esports from all the important stakeholders in the domestic ecosystem.

Learn more about the global games industry and find investment opportunities at Pocket Gamer Connects London on January 19th to 20th.

For opportunities closer to the MENA region, join us at the Dubai GameExpo Summit powered by PGC on May 20th to 21st and at PGC Jordan later this year.