Saudi Arabia's PIF Is Reportedly Now Nintendo's Biggest Outside Investor

Well, it has not turned out bad for Newcastle, has it

Is this real? Soon Saudi Arabia will buy Nintendo 100%.

This cabal is buying up everything, and nobody has the plums to stand up to it. Make a stand when prompted but when there's money involved morals go right out the window. Grim

Not gonna lie, this makes me uncomfortable. The idea that the Saudi state profits from Nintendo gives me pause. I know Nintendo haven’t seeked this out but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They’re a nasty little regime.

@arabiansanchez likewise. It's sad to see. It really is.

@Horace Didn't even think about it from that POV. Now it seems like even worse news! They've already broken football, clearly have no intention of stopping there

@Selim As I recall it's basically impossible for a non Japanese place to get any real foothold with shares like that. Nintendo's investors are heavily Japanese focused (banks and whatnot) and few of those would ever if ever sell to foreigners.

@B4L0R_CLUB in the case of Newcastle, sure, via the fit and proper tests the League could have, in theory, put their foot down and said nope. However these are publicly traded shares, very little to stop anyone dipping in.

Nintendo won't even necessarily know who is buying them.

Okay, forgive my ignorance. Just because they own 6%, does that mean they have any artistic influence?

I don’t like it, but I also assume many products that I consume are making profits for bad organizations.

@ukaskew37 as someone else alluded to, Nintendo did not seek this investment, they found out about it in the news! No issue with Nintendo, it's just sad that money gained from destroying the planet used by people with horrific human rights records and misogynistic and homophobic views is being used to infiltrate everything PIF possibly can, it seems.

What about all your China made products? I'm sure you will stop buying, using anything made from China. Hypocrites.

How does the decision process work at Nintendo? Is it just the board that makes final choices? Do investors have any say, apart from voting who will be on the board? I don't think this will change much at all at Nintendo - remember making money is the #1 goal at all companies, while virtue signalling is just PR.

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@dugan They most definitely are. The west have a lot of soul searching they ought to be doing regarding who we empower.

The idea that a regime who enforce laws wherein people have their hands cut off or are lashed for things like ‘theft,’ ‘deviancy,’ or ‘drunkenness’ is now profiting from Super Mario et al just hits differently I guess. Nintendo take on an emotional element for people I guess. Nostalgia, etc.

Regarding creative control, you’ve got it. Thankfully they don’t warrant any input there.

@Henchdog yes. Correct. Japan basically has a law saying that foreign companies can’t buy companies in Japan. Otherwise Microsoft would have had one by now. Lol. Nintendo owns the majority stake. So they can’t be bought out by people anyway. Nintendo sets a limit on how many shares are public and let whoever grabs them.

If that stake gets too high i’m ok with playing my retro collection.

Don’t know a lot about Saudi Arabia so went through that link in the article and, just read they behead a lot of people? Wtf! Why are we allies with them? Nintendo should steer clear

Cool, I guess. didn't know why this business news is important..

Don't worry. Nintendo's arbitrary decision making, lateral development with withered tech, vaulting their old stuff with drip feeds, and generally being Nintendo will continue. If some other country wants a piece of that, they can enjoy when the Big N inevitably missteps like they typically do after a big high like the Switch. Silly geese, you buy into Nintendo when they're in the throes of a Wii U.

Great, so I'm funding a country that would execute me for being gay when I buy Nintendo's products... -_- I don't think Nintendo and Saudi's values align well.

They're apparently their largest shareholder too.

That's just terrible news, it's really dishartening seeing a company that brought so many smiles to people's hearts making deals with an entity that cannot be described as anything more than a disgusitng moral cesspool.

Nintendo should steer clear of those.

@123akis hmmmm... When was the last time there was a state execution that used beheading by sword in the UK? I get the US and the UK have done terrible things (especially the UK), but when a lot of that human rights abuses is over a century ago while the other is a current practitioner... That's apples and oranges.

@arabiansanchez I wouldn't blame it on the west, it's the east that has a TON of soul searching to do, provided they even have them in the first place

@123akis sure, but comparing the west to the east in terms of human rights abuse is like comparing a finger flip to a baseball bat assault

Where are all the people who called to boycott Hogwarts Legacy and chastised the game for two years right now? Haven't seen them calling for a Nintendo boycott. Apparently tweets are more harmful than execution and jail sentences.

So the government wants to step up and do something about the Microsoft-Activision deal, but this is somehow acceptable? (I know Nintendo is a Japanese company and therefore answers to a different government. Not sure if there's some kind of internationally agreed-upon rules when it comes to investing--particularly in foreign stocks--though. I feel like there HAS to be, right?)

When Activision Blizzard was caught doing terrible stuff in 2021, I decided to boycott them, but not forever and now I decided to go back to buying their games, still waiting for Microsoft to finish the acquisition.

If I decided to boycott everything similar to be coherent, what would I buy?

@Weapon_Wheel I just don't like the hypocrisy of it. People acting morally superior and bullying others for not getting on board when they themselves turn a blind eye to all sorts of other (worse) stuff. It just shows how it's largely little more than performative bandwagon jumping on whatever happens to be the trendy cause right now. In reality we are funding horrendous people all over the place, it's almost impossible not to these days sadly.

@victordamazio I'm not buying Activision games till they're fully acquired by Microsoft. Similar to Hogwarts Legacy till it's on a deep discount or used. While I'd hate to do similar with Nintendo I have boycotted games in the pass. I can live without AAA video games.

this is very worrysome, soon arabic influience will be on Nintendo hardware/games, they will kill Nintendo creativity, where is the japanese goverment to put a stop to this? isnt theres a law that block foregein companies for buying japanese companies? why Nintendo is not using this law?

@Clyde_Radcliffe yeah this isn't comparable. One, The Saud government has very low stake in Nintendo atm compared to JK who owns the Harry Potter brand and that very brand gives her a platform to not just rake in millions, but to also give her that very platform. It's similar to Orsan Scott Card where his brand is Ender's Game and those are far easier to compare and buying products of Ender's Game actively supports Card and his platform.. This while similar is not quite comparable.

@Giancarlothomaz 7% is literally nothing, and nintendo owns most of their shares between them and tursted partners, nothing will happen.

It's the issues of being a public traded company, anyone can buy shares. take overs tho, that's another situation and that's what laws and govt can shut down.

@Scarko well it’s not like Newcastle haven’t come under significant scrutiny and criticism since that deal, is it? 🤔
They should stay well away from Nintendo.

what i like about boycotts is that people draw a line where they think its good to do it, like not buying nintendo games because the SA are a regime (and i agree) but using social media like twitter or facebook is not bad even if one of the owners of a particular social media made it's money by literally being a slaver, and the other is an ***** that sells your entire information and probably skews voting to what he likes.

@Faruko the joys of not having a Twitter And while I want a Tesla... I'm not supporting Elon. Facebook I hardly give any information for and more use it to stay in contact with extended family I'm not perfect, but I try to be better where I can!

If the Saud government does get a high enough stake in Nintendo... I'm going to consider not buying their products.

"HADAR SEN OLMEN"
yes, it's still not Arabic, and yes it's just a repetition of my last comment on this topic
But this is immediately my first thought when I see something Saudi Arabia related and Nintendo

I would imagine the recent share price tumble after the investors meeting meant there was stock for Saudi Arabia to buy. At the end of the say It's a free market and anyone can buy the stock.

Mire than likely Nintendo have security in place to stop a hostile takeover. The Saudi's are just buying in on the future of Films, Toys, and Theme Parks starring Mario and Zelda.

@Horace thank you for that, it makes sense and I didn’t consider that.

@arabiansanchez “a lot of soul searching about who we empower” You are so correct! Thanks for the response.

More financial backing is good for Nintendo, so this is a win.

@Weapon_Wheel Even many of our phones and clothes are likely to have been made by child sweat shop labour.

@PessitheMystic yeah, it was sarcasm. I love football as a sport, play it a lot. I've been watching English football for 20 years now, but I hate where it is all going.

@123akis true! But, that still is not same as being the government actively doing those things. I'd say some is geopolitical as we need them, but we can also and should adjust on our policies to have a harder stance.

As far as the Saud government is concerned they are one of the few counters NATO nations have to Iran (they historically do not get along). So, yeah it's one of those enemy of my enemy is my friend relationships.

@Scarko aw my bad, couldn’t tell it was sarcasm because arguably it hasn’t actually turned out bad for Newcastle. Current highest league position for as long as I can remember.
But again, I am not condoning or endorsing Saudi funding whatsoever.

@123akis,

So true, if you took this stance there would be very little you bought from anywhere.

For the record, for the mod, my comment #30 was not off topic. Maybe I should have put emphasis around the word “Nintendo”. Since my point was directly referring to the sales on a “Nintendo” system as a reflection of what this article we are commenting on is discussing. Literally the entire point of this article and the outcome from it. But okay then.

@Horace This is absolutely the right way to think of it. Not so much an investor trying to tinker with a specific game development. It's their voting power that's going to hold massive sway. This is very alarming news indeed. There is eventually a tipping point where they can influence who sits on the board of directors. At that point it's too late and then they have full ability to influence game design. We need a lot more media coverage on this. Not just from SA, but any large entity taking a controlling interest in a company.

@Clyde_Radcliffe “ They're apparently their largest shareholder too.”

I’m glad someone said it. 7% may not sound like a lot but when it’s the companies largest shareholder, we’ll “a lot” is relative.

That said, I don’t think they’ll get creatively involved on a daily basis, they’re in it for the $, and probably b/c it makes them look good by owning part of a “family friendly” company. But, I think 7% gives them the nuclear option of saying “Look, take that out of your game, we don’t like it, or we’re dumping 7% of your company stock for half of what it’s worth, potentially sending the stock into a bottomless free fall.” Now that’s a bomb that can only be dropped once, but you can threaten it repeatedly.

Nintendo stock will probably pop up when the next gen console is announced, sometime in the next 12 months, my guess is PIF continues to buy until then, who knows when they’ll stop. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Though probably no more than 10 or 11%, that’s a big enough of a bomb.

@Clyde_Radcliffe you can’t doxx and stalk and send death threats to the Saudi Government.

@dugan they are slowly upping their stake, likely to avoid scrutiny. At 7% it might not seem like much but they WILL be able to have a voice during investor sessions. They likely cannot dictate anything but the Saudi Arabia does now have more of a say than anyone actually buying the product.

They are putting stock in many things. It's a slow power move.

@Ryu_Niiyama That would be UN's job, and we all know how good UN is at doing its job

@Henchdog well it’d definitely be more of a challenge, but SNK was founded in Japan and has since been bought out by Saudi Arabia.

Abhorrent news. Gaming really is just determined to fund the worst people on the planet, isn’t it?

Hey you can't blame the Saudis for wanting to divest from complete oil dependency somehow. And bury any negative human rights publicity under as much sports-washing (video game-washing) as they can afford.

I do hope Nintendo has invested some of their Switch riches into stock buybacks, to better repel such, let's say, disreputable investors.

Holy hell people. Stop letting your pure greed allow the blood money to spread so easily. Disgusting world.

Just want to point out something. The reason why Nintendo stock values are so low right now is that they did a 10 to 1 stock split back in September after announcing it early last year. Their shares have historically been expensive, and they also only sold in blocks of 100 shares, the value of which roughly equated to sending a kid to college in Tokyo for the whole 4 years! The move to split has been proposed for years. So this whole thing was an opportunity for SA to swoop in and get some Nintendo Stock.

@ComfyAko Nintendo, or any other publicly traded company, doesn’t have control over who buys open shares.

@TYRANACLES The difference is that was a deal SNK let through. Here, these are shares on the open market. No one can take over a company by buying open shares. There’s generally not enough shares to go around because the guys at the top hold the majority, as well as everyone else who own shares.

@Teksetter No chance as they just split in September to encourage investment. But as sure as Nintendo remains a traditional Japanese company we can be safe in knowing that they won’t give up the company to foreign powers so easily.

@masterLEON That's my point. Offering public floats gives you no control over investors.

@theModestMouse sure, but if you start doing that, what can you really buy? Also, bear in mind that most of the people don't know and don't care about where something comes from. And then there's people who know that you can't turn a river with a stick. After all, no snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.

This is a nothing burger.

My god, if I had one wish it would be for Nintendolife to publish an article called "Nintendo is a Japanize company. Japan is a whole different county! Laws are different there" and link it in articles like this.

Every single day there is a new article that is completely misleading because the audience here lacks any context in how wholly owned subsidiaries work, that NOA is not the same company as Nintendo, or some other difference between the east and west, yet there seems to be no interest in providing this context.

Publicly traded companies in Japan are protected from foreign involvement. I literally, no exaggeration, have MORE CONTROL over Nintendo then Saudi Arabia, because I own shares and ... unlike the Saudi's, they allow me to vote!

Unlike the US, you can't hostilely take over a Japanese company. The articles of incorporation for most Japanese companies only give voting power to nationals. They also include two levels of control over unwanted majority stakes; a "poison pill", which allows new shares to be issued to board members without public offering, and the "nuclear option" with takes ALL power away from share holders and gives full authority to the people listed in the articles of incorporation.

I don't own shares in SNK and haven't seen there AOI, but even with a 51% stake, I doubt Saudi Arabia has any control there either.

@HeadPirate hasn’t hostile takeovers happened to other game companies? I seem to remember reading about it happening to another company, and people wondered about Nintendo. And that’s how I found out about the steps it would take.

So a lot of people seem worried. That some of the money they give to Nintendo goes to Saudi Arabia is an issue I can understand.
But will SA have literally any influence whatsoever? I mean anything that could actually matter or be noticable? In fact, has Nintendo done anything in the past few years that was a result of their investors' influence? Or does Nintendo just tell investors they'll 'think about and consider' their suggestions and shuts them up with all the money they make?

Why does it matter how much stock Saudi Arabia has in Nintendo?

Wonder if all those people that boycotted Hogwarts legacy will be boycotting Nintendo...🤣

@123akis

that's a bit of "whataboutism," no?

why can't people be hypocrites, china be bad, AND Saudi Arabia be bad? and USA and England too, throw those in there. they are all bad, sure.

you aren't wrong I just don't think these factors are mutually exclusive.

@outsider83

I think the game companies you are thinking of are western, right? the point they were making is it's different for Japanese companies.

Selling out to China and the Saudis is never a good thing. At this point they might as well sell a part of Nintendo to Russia, it's also a loving country that only has the best interests of everyone in mind.

@-wc- Comparing China/Saudi Arabia to the US/UK is indeed naive. Yes, they're all bad in their own ways, but in the US/UK you won't get executed for your sexual preferences, sent to a concentration camp for being a specific ethnicity, or have your organs forcefully harvested and sold to rich foreigners because of your religion.

@arabiansanchez everyone is suddenly uncomfortable of a country, just because the mefia and US said they’re the bad guys. Grow some plums.

@Ursaking

(changed my response after re reading yours.)

I agree with you! I hope that's clear from my comment.

Oh no! Anyway, life goes on and this will literally change nothing. Even the people complaining about it.

This is stock purchases on an open market. You or I or anyone can buy the stock.

My guess is that the Saudis are trying to diversify their holdings since their oil/energy sources will not last forever.

However, given that most of the stocks are in private (family) hands, it is doubtful that this will ever result in a takeover.

Money money money money, MONEY!

@Would_you_kindly Look, Nintendo can lie, cheat, steal, and deal with some of the worst people on earth; But I will boycott if they charge me for the DLC on next Mario game.

Wow, when I said yesterday that I thought PIF would buy more stock I didn’t mean overnight.

“Nintendo stock will probably pop up when the next gen console is announced, sometime in the next 12 months, my guess is PIF continues to buy until then, who knows when they’ll stop. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Though probably no more than 10 or 11%, that’s a big enough of a bomb.”

@SonOfDracula @DDFawfulGuy

I think people are concerned because countries like Saudi Arabia will make profit off Nintendo's success, which means that some of the money we spend on Nintendo games will in some form go to SA, and every dollar that will go to such places is a dollar that will be used against you (or other innocent people)

I would complain and say this is scary and I won’t support Nintendo as long as they profit from it and all the other buzz words. But I’m reminded that I’m using a Saudi invested Google Chrome browser on a Saudi invested Apple iPhone. Got no fight in this one

@ComfyAko Every billion dollar company does shady things and gets away with it. In the grand scheme of things the average person really doesn't care about what's going outside their bubble. They are just happy with a shiny play thing.

@ComfyAko
Yeah, I get that. I thought I'd made it clear enough in my comment. Although loads of bad companies and people benefit from things you buy and use all the time. Going into that properly would take some time though.
What I was actually questioning is whether not people fearing SA will influence Nintendo is warranted or not. Do they get a voice? What would they even ask for? Is there any precedence? It feels like people are worrying over nothing when it comes to investor influence unless I missed something.
Oh, and people acting like it was Nintendo that went to SA asking for the deal when it's apparent that anyone can buy Nintendo's stocks. Hopefully people will actually think before boycotting, but that's on them.

I'm sure Kyoto and NOA's PR people are thrilled about this development. When you go public you can't pick and choose your investors, though, can you...?
At least they have safeguards in place to prevent foreign investors from ever gaining a controlling stake in the company.

I think @masterLEON explained the situation well yesterday. Thank you for sharing your insight!

I suspect the Saudis think the Mario Movie will be a huge success, hence them increasing their investment. I want them to have nothing to do with Nintendo or gaming in general.

@BLAZINOAH Word up. I, for one, would like them to have nothing to do with anything in general.

@DDFawfulGuy Yes I know, but I was referring to the part where you dismissed the notion that Nintendo's creativity will be impacted by this unfortunate event. You're absolutely right and I don't think that it's Nintendo's fault at all.

@Vexx234 I know that we won't get to live in a la la land where everything is awesome and everything is smiles and cupcakes. But I strongly feel that the fact that other parties do it doesn't make it right. Moreover, the scope of the "shady things" is uncomparable. Look how openly SA and some other countries commit unthinkable atrocities, as if they were proud of it (and in case of SA, they are). I won't discourage anyone from buying Nintendo related things and I will continue to support it because it's not the root of the problem. The root is somewhere else and sometimes saying it loud is more than doing nothing

lol at all people trying to tell people not to care about countries that behead journalists and calling that virtue signaling. Some people are really dead inside.

@ComfyAko It's not the root of the problem no, but it's more of people who claim to be outraged only long enough for PR to kick in before forgetting about it, and right back to square one.

In the grand scheme things this news doesn't mean much and nothing to really care about.

@Ursaking @-wc- Comparing China/Saudi Arabia to the US/UK is indeed naive. Yes, they're all bad in their own ways, but in the US/UK you won't get executed for your sexual preferences, sent to a concentration camp for being a specific ethnicity, or have your organs forcefully harvested and sold to rich foreigners because of your religion.

You must've not read up on American History 101 those actions still happen today and are in Laws right now? Native American were ethnical cleansed or attempted and Slavery still not be openly admitted used to built the American country. People today in USA get killed for their sexual orientation still it not that hard to search these news. And if you have no next of Kin or Will the state owns your body aka organ harvest. Just ask the Maga Right about family family values they already failed the 10 commandants they claim to follow. So all those your talking is above and well in 2023 and til it openly discussed it's not going away.

That's all I will say to that. Now to the investor daily. Country invest or not. If people want to boycott then boycott owning Vehicles since we use oil from those countries we love to hate or demonize but willing to buy and use their OIL. So there hypocrisies all over and one choose their fight or lack of fight.

@Would_you_kindly that's not equal in the slightest, and you know it.

Fortunately all the money Saudia Arabia makes from Nintendo will just come back in arms sales.

@SwitchForce People will never be angry enough to sacrifice convenience and comfortably.

This is becoming a nightmare. Every day or two, it seems like there's a new article about the Saudis increasing their stake in the company. When will the madness end? Hopefully before this state fundamentally changes what Nintendo is.

Nice, a pretty europarliament member from my country was a huge advocate for Saudis and Qatar. I don't believe when they say that she was corrupted.

@Caryslan Sorry, but your post comes off as self righteous, and the companies as if each are puritans. These companies choose money over morals everyday. It's the corporate way.

@SwitchForce if you want to boycott a video game company then you should boycott vehicles if you don’t want to be a hypocrite? You can’t seriously believe those two things are equally necessary components in society. People can’t avoid vehicles. People here are basically saying that if you don’t just drop out of society you’re a huge hypocrite for caring about absolutely anything

@Riku3456 @Henchdog If that is true.

Then how did SNK end up being owned by the Saudis for 96.18%?

@ComfyAko Interesting. Well, I boycotted Nintendo last year, so it's a non-issue for me anyway.

This is not something new - there are all sorts of unsavoury trust fund structures with fingers in many, many pies. I took a look at a few in in my time in Trust & Corporate & by Waluigi, it's very scary. The proposed Microsoft merger with Activision is but a mere drop in the water compared to the stuff I've seen & I bet what I've seen is tame compared to the stuff going on behind the scenes.

@Caryslan sure… how about you stop using your cosmetic products from companies that do unethical testing, your phone made by enslaved kids and employees in foxconn (which Nintendo is also a major customer), or your car that uses gasoline coming from 😱 arab and Russian origins!! WWE? have you seen Vinnie Mac’s accusations that forced him to retire?!?! As long as you keep using a product or a service from big corporations with dubious practices, your comment will be highly hypocritical.

@VinylCreep Actually we could. There's a youtuber called "Not Just Bikes" that explains rants daily about the problems with vehicles.

I recommend you watch some of his vids. He goes into great detail how cars became a necessary evil. Most in part to lobbying and propaganda from the automobile industry.

@Savage_Joe Fair enough.

@WaffleRaptor01 people have these things called jobs that they need to get to. Not sure if you’re aware of that. Not everyone lives in a bikeable distance to their job and not everyone lives in areas with mass transport that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels. I don’t think you’ve thought this through too well. None of us can change the fact society uses vehicles. People can choose not to play video games. Are you going to tell people barely scraping by on minimum wage jobs trying to support their families, well, if you don’t want people in the Kotaku comments section to think ill of you you better upend your entire life and wind up going on welfare.

@VinylCreep Actually you are a hypocrite. Now before you get upset, I'm a hypocrite too. Humans by design are hypocrites. We pick and choose our battles because it's impossible for us to care about every issue on the table. Really it is.

We aren't designed to care about everything, and by default will be hypocrites when comes to certain issues affecting the world around us. Our sympathy and compassion like us, is finite.

@Savage_Joe that’s a total garbage opinion. You’re basically telling people that unless they basically drop out of society that they can’t care about anything. People literally can’t fight every single front in the world where things are morally questionable. People have to pick their battles. There are more options than care about everything or care about nothing. It’s ludicrous.

Wow that's pretty disgusting

@Scarko yes it has

@VinylCreep the problem lies when you choose to care and criticize a country for their current and past actions, and then willingly give a free pass to another country that does the same because they make product you can’t avoid to use (have you seen how China handled Covid people?), just to hide in your next comment justifying your choice. that is hypocrisy.

we are free to criticize a country or a company for their actions and morals, even if we use their products, in hopes for them to get better. boycotting one thing and favoring another whose origins are similar helps absolutely no one.

thats unfortunate

@Deviant-Dork hey, not sure which of my comments you are referring to. There are two, search for the second one for an explanation of the first one

@Selim If that happened, I am sure all of the female characters will be removed from Mario Kart or will be given a male chaperone to ride in their Kart, Double Dash style.

@Savage_Joe You literally have no idea what anyone in this thread thinks about China and how they act upon it but you’re calling people hypocrites anyways.

@Savage_Joe Many of us do criticize China as well. At least Saudi Arabia hasn't completely taken over yet like China has in manufacturing, so it's much easier to put up resistance.

@Scarko absolutely not.

@Savage_Joe Good call, so take no action because you can't influence everything equally at once without some troll on the net thinking you're a hypocrite, got it.

Nobody considers their sphere of influence, anymore. So should I not give money to a homeless guy, because I can't solve world hunger with just that action? According to your logic, it's the same as wanting to boycott one country vs another.

Seriously dude, your hopeless mindset doesn't need to be thrust upon others.

@SonOfDracula “ Nobody considers their sphere of influence, anymore. So should I not give money to a homeless guy, because I can't solve world hunger with just that action? ”

doing what you can to help the next person is the right thing to do. believing you can solve world hunger because of that one single act… no. it would require a tremendous amount of effort from everyone, not just you. the same applies to the mess of the comments section here.

people here think that they have the moral authority to solve the world’s biggest problems, but their minds can’t be more narrow. boycotting something from a country for what they do will not solve anything. they will just sell the same thing to another audience willing to give them money and laugh their way to the bank.

It's definitely not a good thing, but fortunately it does mean very little in the grand scheme of all things Nintendo.

I'm sure they care nothing about the artistic direction of Nintendo. Yamauchi bought the Seattle Mariners and never went to a game.

@SonOfDracula It's not that you can't solve problems, it's just you can't solve every problem in the world. People in general focus more on the issues within their sphere rather than outside it.

Everyone is selfish and hypocritical to a degree. It's emotionally exhausting for us to try and fix everything happening way outside our sphere.

Helping someone in need is good. Trying to solve every problem in the world is not. It's okay care and sympathize, but if you burden yourself with trying to fix everything, you will find it emotionally exhausting, draining and slowly become detached as you'll see more problems than solutions.

@Bratwurst35 The problem is using that mindset as an excuse for doing nothing. And no one is trying to change the world in this thread. People are morphing it into that to justify their own worldview that hypocrisy is the only thing anyone is allowed to be outraged about. People in this thread are simply saying they’re uncomfortable with Saudi involvement in Nintendo. Caring about that or taking action doesn’t necessarily mean they’re on a crusade. You can extricate yourself from a problematic situation for more reasons than being on a crusade to fix the planet. And again… no one is even saying that in this thread.

@Bratwurst35 I think you're taking the conversation in a different direction, so I'll leave you to your thoughts. Thanks for the reply.

People are really just trying to yeet their worldview at people without really caring what people are even saying in here. After all the years of people doing that to each other you would think people would be aware of it at this point

@Savage_Joe I don't think you know what people on this website actually think, and you are continually proving that fact to us.

@SonOfDracula neither do you, yet here we are 🤷🏻‍♂️

@SwitchForce that’s a touch dramatic. Sure crimes against race/beliefs/sexual orientation do happen in places like the US, but not at all to the degree of a place like Saudi Arabia or Russia in this day and time. There’s a reason people from China, Russia, North Korea or Saudi Arabia want to leave their country, I’m very fortunate to live in a place that is by and large free. Sure it’s not perfect because it’s run by people but be grateful if you can set back and speak your mind, not be forced to cry and wave as your national representative drives by in a car, or be forced to give up a member of your family because you have one too many siblings.

@TYRANACLES Maybe a touch dramatic, but I believe Switchforce is merely pointing out America isn't a paradise. Yeah other places have it worse, but we've our own set of problems too.

One can be grateful yet hypercritical too.

@Vexx234 Well, I guess we can all agree that the root of all problem is Saudi Arabia, and all the other countries with vile, wicked ideologies. It's unthinkable how easily people are taught selfless hatred.

@Horace well put. And also love that icon

It sounds childish, but I really do wish I could just take everything I like and stick it in a bubble, so I don't have to worry about it being tainted by those I want nothing to do with. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way, and the modern world would collapse in on itself if you tried to pull out all the corruption underneath it at once. That doesn't mean we can't slowly chip away at it and try to improve things, but on an individual level, it's hard for it not to feel like a hopeless task.

The worst thing about this is that EVEN if you chose to boycott Nintendo and all the companies that the Saudis have in shares, it's damn outright impossible to not support them through two means.

1) The very vehicles that you ride in are all powered by gasoline, and a majority of it comes from Saudi Arabia

2) The nations of the world, even America and Canada, all support Saudi Arabia because they chose to provide the oil to the developing nations.

SO yeah. Unlike Hogwarts Legacy, a boycott against Nintendo because of the Saudis won't mean anything at all, because you're still contributing towards Saudi Arabia both directly(Gasoline) and indirectly(Your own nations).

The Saudi and Emiratey investors are expanding across the globe. They may well have large investors and shares in companies and institutions that you are not even aware of. It's life.

@ProfPotNoodle Firstly I’m not American, and secondly I don’t need a lecture on right and wrong from anybody who thinks I need to ‘grow some plums’ with regards to thinking the Saudi regime are awful.

@Andy_Witmyer you can report the comment

Makes sense of the continuous sterilization of Bayonetta ever since the second game. And let's not with the muktivrrse bs

Congratulations to them I suppose.

@DripDropCop146 the thing that annoys me about America is that they celebrate Thanksgiving every year knowing it represents the genocide of the native population but they still all want to get self righteous aswell as nuking Japan & lying about WMD's

Well, it HAS become easier to buy and sell up smaller chunks of Nintendo for investors after the stock split. Not that I imagine Saudi Arabia's public investment fund needs things to be easy. ^^

@SwitchForce You're the one who should do some reading. What's happening in the US is nothing like what China's doing to their Falun Gong prisoners. Gay and trans people killed by right-wing lunatics in the US is nothing like the systemic oppression, prison time and executions they experience in the Middle East. Yes, the US has a dark history a racism is still rampant, but they've long moved from the medieval times. China and the Arab countries are still firmly stuck there.