(Yicai Global) Feb. 17 -- Versus Programming Network, a Chinese esports tournament organizer backed by Tencent Holdings, has secured a USD265 million investment from Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, the most cash investment ever raised in the competition video-gaming sector.

The deal is expected to be closed in several months, Shanghai-backed VSPO said late yesterday. Once the deal is completed, the unit of Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund will become VSPO’s largest external investor shareholder.

The funding will be used to invest in research and development and extended reality, augmented reality, and the use of artificial intelligence technologies in the esports field, VSPO added.

VSPO’s founder and Chairman Ying Shuling said he is pleased to partner with Savvy to establish and develop the esports industry worldwide. The company will accelerate its global expansion, focusing primarily on the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, he added.

Saudi Arabia has nearly 23.5 million young gaming and esports players, equal to about 70 percent of the country’s total population.

The investment is an important part of Savvy’s strategy to make Saudi Arabia an international hub for the gaming and esports industries and will also support the kingdom’s esports ecosystem, said Saudi Prince Faisal, who is also Savvy’s vice chairman.

Founded in 2016, VSPO said it is involved with more than 70 percent of China’s top esports competitions and half of the world’s. It has hosted more than 10,000 professional esports events and has built venues in Shanghai, Chengdu, and Xi’an in China and in Seoul, South Korea, the startup added.

Savvy is the world’s leading gaming and esports company. It has invested in or acquired Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group, Take-Two, and King of Fighters’ developer Shin Nihon Kikaku.

Editor: Futura Costaglione