Brian Ward exits as CEO of PIF's $38B Savvy Games Group; Turqi Alnowaiser steps in

RIYADH — Brian Ward has stepped down as chief executive of Savvy Games Group, the roughly $38 billion PIF vehicle that owns Scopely and Niantic and is closing a $6 billion deal for Moonton. Kotaku, citing Bloomberg, reports that PIF governor Turqi Alnowaiser takes over as interim CEO.

The exit lands amid a PIF-wide cost-tightening review and days of questions about how the fund sequences its gaming bets. Ward led Savvy through the Scopely acquisition that made it a top-tier mobile publisher.

Savvy's holdings make it one of the largest gaming companies in the world by revenue, assembled almost entirely by acquisition over three years. The leadership change also lands in the middle of its pending $6 billion Moonton deal, so the interim structure has to hold through the most complex close in the group's short history.

The read: putting the PIF governor's own man in the chair reads as consolidation, not drift: the fund wants direct line of sight on its biggest entertainment asset while the Moonton deal closes. Watch whether a permanent hire comes from inside the PIF system or from a global publisher, because that choice signals whether Savvy keeps buying or starts integrating.