Dune raider: Saudi is a video-game superpower

NBA 登陆中国

The Intelligence from The Economist

2025-10-10

19 分钟
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Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's crown prince, is a huge video-game fan. Now his hobby is becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry for the kingdom, which is acquiring some of the world's biggest gaming firms. How Finnish icebreakers became a focus for polar power politics. And the NBA plays its first basketball game on Chinese soil in six years. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. 
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  • The Economist.

  • Hello, and welcome to The Intelligence from the Economist.

  • I'm your host, Rosie Blore.

  • Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

  • Given its location,

  • it's pretty obvious why Finland has carved out a niche in designing and building ice breakers.

  • But as competition for the Arctic grows, so does demand for these ships.

  • No joke.

  • And in 2019, a star basketball player wrote a tweet that annoyed the Chinese Communist Party.

  • The result was that the entire league was banned from China.

  • Tonight, for the first time in six years, an NBA game is finally being played on Chinese soil again.

  • First up, though, In 1983, a small team published a series of groundbreaking video games,

  • including Archon, The Light and the Dark, a combat game that's a bit like chess.

  • Over 40 years later, the computer geeks who billed themselves as electronic artists are better known as the company EA.

  • EA Sports. It's in the game.

  • EA is one of America's largest gaming brands.

  • But now that video game firm has been co-opted for an even bolder mission.

  • It's part of a bid to dominate the entire gaming industry.

  • Electronic Arts, which is America's third biggest gaming company,

  • is being bought for $55 billion in a group being led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.