Brian Ward steps down as Savvy Games Group CEO

In an article published on September 1, Bloomberg revealed, based on information it was able to review, that Brian Ward, CEO of Savvy Games Group (ESL FACEIT Group), is stepping down. Having been with the Saudi investment company specializing in the video game industry since 2021, he is therefore stepping away from the project one month after the PIF, the Public Investment Fund, which owns SGG, completed the acquisition of more than 93% of video game giant Electronic Arts.

Turqi Alnowaiser, “Deputy Governor & Head of the International Investments Division, Public Investment Fund”, will be interim acting CEO instead of Ward.

In its article, the US outlet reports on this point that, according to its sources, “the Electronic Arts transaction prompted concern internally at Savvy over how the two giant Saudi-owned video-game businesses will be run.” The timing could therefore find its explanation here. However, in a message sent internally to Savvy employees, which Bloomberg was able to see, Brian Ward explained: “As Savvy embarks on its next period of transformational growth, this is the right time for new leadership for that evolution.”

“Savvy has grown to nearly 4000 employees in 22+ countries, providing above target returns for its shareholder, the Public Investment Fund,” Ward states in his LinkedIn biography.

In an interview already given to the same outlet in March, Savvy's soon-to-be former CEO said that “fighting in the Middle East would likely cool the region’s prospects for becoming a video-game hub.” This situation became tangible in May when the Esports Foundation, which oversees the Esports World Cup, announced that its event would be moved from Riyadh to Paris just 50 days before its start. This has been compounded in recent weeks by the announcement, again from the EF, that the first edition of its new project, the Esports Nations Cup, will ultimately take place in November 2027 instead of November 2026 as originally planned.

The Esports Foundation and Savvy Games Group are both backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, with Savvy-owned ESL FACEIT Group operating the Esports World Cup. Beyond these developments, this is also a blow to EFG, which Savvy acquired in 2022 for US$1.5 billion. Alongside the competitions organized by ESL, the online platform FACEIT and DreamHack events also came under the Gulf kingdom's umbrella.

SGG also invested more than $260 million in Hero Esports in 2023 for nearly a 30% stake. One of the largest esports companies in Asia, Hero operates as a tournament organizer, talent agency, and commercial rights company. Its portfolio includes VCT China 2024-2025, the Olympic Esports Week 2023, and the Esports World Cup, as well as Gamers8. In addition to these activities, Hero is also behind the Asian Champions League, a multi-game LAN competition that also serves as a qualifier for the Esports World Cup.

Beyond esports, which represents only a small part of the group's investments, Savvy has also invested in several studios, including Embracer Group and Scopely, the developer behind Monopoly GO! and Pokémon GO. The PIF, which owns SGG, also transferred nearly $12 billion worth of stakes at the beginning of 2026 in some of the biggest names in the video game industry, including Take-Two, Bandai Namco and Nintendo.

More recently, and still closely tied to esports, Moonton Games, the studio behind the success of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, is in the process of being acquired by Savvy for nearly $6 billion after spending years under Chinese giant ByteDance, the owner of TikTok. Bloomberg reported in March that the deal had been signed but not fully completed, as the US outlet reiterated in this article: “The company is still waiting to close its $6 billion acquisition.”