Savvy Games Group is an umbrella games and esports group, owned by the Saudi government's Public Investment Fund. The group has agreed to buy mobile games studio Scopely for $4.9 billion. Scopely was founded in 2011 and is the home of several popular mobile games, including Yahtzee With Buddies, Star Trek Fleet Command, Marvel Strike Force, Stumble Guys, and Scrabble Go.

The Los-Angeles based company had a post-money valuation of $3.3 billion in 2020 when it raised a funding round of $340 million. Scopely has grown over the past few years with a number of notable acquisitions. In 2020, Scopely acquired Disney's FoxNext Games, and in 2021, the company acquired Sony Pictures Entertainment's GSN Games for $1 billion.

"Scopely is one of the fastest-growing games companies today, and we have long admired their ability to build loyal, engaged player communities," said Savvy Games Group CEO Brian Ward in a press release. "At Savvy Games Group, our mission is to invest in – and grow – the global games community by inviting the best minds to join us."

Scopely will work as a "standalone company" within the umbrella of the Savvy conglomerate, which comprises esports companies ESL and Faceit. The company will be led under co-CEOs Walter Driver and Javier Ferreira.

"As part of the Savvy Games Group portfolio, we will continue building one of the world's most diversified mobile-first games companies," said Scopely co-CEO Javier Ferreira in the press release. Our technology platform, market-leading studio ecosystem, and world-class team have always enabled us to stay one step ahead of the rapidly growing games industry, delivering long-lasting franchises that delight players around the world. We look forward to reimagining the future of play with Brian and the Savvy team."

Savvy claims the acquisition, pending regulatory approval, will enhance its capacity to offer new products for the global gaming community. The company further says that the acquisition will build upon Scopely's cross-platform approach, further expanding its live services expertise into new segments, such as PC, console, and more.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the Saudi Arabian government was betting $38 billion to become the next hub for the video game industry. According to this report, Savvy is looking to develop and acquire top-tier games.

The deal makes it the sixth biggest acquisition in video game history in terms of price. The number one position in this regard is taken by Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard for a sum of $68.7 billion that has yet to be finalized, and two, Take-Two acquired Zynga for $12.7 billion followed by Tencent's purchase of Supercell for $8.6 billion, then comes Microsoft which acquired ZeniMax for $8.1 billion and finally Activision Blizzard bought King for $5.9 billion.