Power Play

A comprehensive and entertaining look at how video games became a cultural and global force, perfect for fans of Blood, Sweat, & Pixels and Console Wars. The evolution of video games from a niche pursuit to the world’s largest entertainment medium, with billions of players and billions of dollars at stake, has made it a perfect place for states and non-state actors to advance their goals online. In Power Play, leading games industry expert George E. Osborn explores the burgeoning foreign and domestic movements to spread influence through video games, showing that our failure to date to take games seriously has led to a culture of complacency around their true impact and importance on the geopolitical stage. More than a simple form of entertainment, video games are an ecosystem that connects billions of people across the globe. Video games create spaces where people talk, share ideas, and build identities that bleed into our reality. And whilst democracies have underestimated the potential for influence in this space, others have seized the opportunity. This is why Russia has been funding the development of video games designed to promote their world view. It's why Saudi Arabia has acquired one of gaming's biggest publishers, EA, to help wash its reputation. It's why Steve Bannon utilized tactics learned from online game communities to propel Donald Trump to the White House. And it's why Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin carved video game references into his bullets. Supported by the insights of dozens of politicians, academics, and industry experts, Power Play is the vital guide to understanding this new frontier for political influence, and what democracies must do to protect play and harness its immense power before this essential battle for digital influence is lost for good.