I swear it's one of those misconceptions that's going to stick and I'm pretty sure I know why. And not just due to geopolitical stuff.
Here's my previous explanation:
EGDC / MiSK Foundation - both of which under the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman - bought 33 % of SNK in 2020, and bought an additional 17 % this past March, giving MiSK control over SNK. I should add to this that just as SNK are pretty damn friendly towards Tencent, SNK also has a friendly relationship with Bin Salman dating back to at least 2017 if not earlier:
SNK's chairman participated in a global forum and panel organized by MBS and the MiSK Foundation that year. And things went from there - the KoF character
Najd was created by an artist working for MiSK's Magna Productions (oh and her codename is pretty much
one of the historical Arabian regions, where Riyadh's located).
Which, yeah, proves the point that corps that are SNK's size and above generally aren't keen on rocking the proverbial boat. Even if the behind the scenes is rather murky to say the least.
What's also worth noting is that in 2015 ca. 80 % of SNK was valued at ca. $63 million, and
33 % of SNK in 2020 (when MiSK stepped into the picture) was valued at $216 million. Okay, Terry's Smash appearance isn't everything, but that certainly helped.
Well, I'm pretty sure that the
Universal Display Corp CEO is feeling a little silly over leaking it (well, kinda) accidentally 2 months ago.
Also: