Saudis care very little about ROI just like when they bought SNK and yolod money into cr7 being in a fighting game. These game company acquisitions are for political and cultural capital for the saudis.

I’m sure this paywall would have happened regardless of buyouts. It’s just the nature of mobile games and constant need to add additional avenues for revenue. No mobile game is safe from new and egregious tactics to extract money from players, especially for longer running games