Why did Saudi Arabia just spend billions on a video games company? – podcast

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, loves a video game. That might explain why Saudi Arabia has borrowed billions to buy Electronic Arts. And that’s just the latest in a long list of ways the Middle Eastern powerhouse has invested in esports.

But why would such a powerful government take a risk with video games? As Keith Stuart and George Osborn tell Annie Kelly, it’s part of a pattern of superpowers and authoritarian regimes seeing games as handy propaganda tools. And this is why critics are worried about countries such as Saudi Arabia having ready access to billions of players around the world

Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.