According to Mobilegamer, the hand-drive developer and distributor, based in Riyadh, Sandsoft, is about to be completely shut down. According to the source, the Saudi family, which owns the company, finally decided to terminate its operations following the first round of staff reductions this summer. Internal staff indicated that they had received a notice requesting a careful external explanation of the reasons for separation.
Some of the former Sandsoft employees have secretly updated their curriculum vitae with the indication of “who are looking for work” or “who are currently waiting for work”, and only a few have publicly announced their departure without explanation. In the past month, Sandsoft has not yet responded. As early as July, Sandsoft closed the game development studio in Barcelona and Riyadh, when the company issued a statement that it would focus on distribution. It now appears that the whole company is moving towards a complete closure. In 2023, Chief Executive Officer of Sandsoft, David Fernandes Remaysar, disclosed that the company was part of a Saudi family business network. Although it is a non-sovereign wealth fund (PIF) under the umbrella of the Scopely parent company, Savvy Gomes Group, it does receive government support related to Saudi economic diversification policy.
Sandsoft opened the Riyadh workshop in 2022, and in 2023 approached Madbox, Socialpoint and Gameloft seniors Alexander Besenval to head the newly established Barcelona studio. Earlier the same year, Fernández also declared that he had a “five-year plan” and that he wanted to become a Middle East super issuer.” Our ambition was to be a leader in the mobile game industry, moving from the region to the world, like the United States of America’s mobile snowstorm, Take-Two Interactive, and the Chinese telecommunications and web access, “He said, “We want to be such a giant industry.”
