Dune raider: Saudi is a video-game superpower

About this episode

<p>Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, is a huge <a href="https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/10/03/how-saudi-arabia-became-a-video-game-superpower?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">video-game fan</a>. 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 <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/10/02/how-bad-is-americas-icebreaker-gap-with-russia?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Finnish icebreakers</a> became a focus for polar power politics. And <a href="https://www.economist.com/china/2025/09/25/all-eyes-on-the-nba-as-its-players-return-to-china?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the NBA</a> plays its first basketball game on Chinese soil in six years.</p><br><p><em>Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—</em><a href="https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+</em></a></p><br><p><em>For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our </em><a href="https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FAQs page</em></a><em> or watch </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>our video</em></a><em> explaining how to link your account. </em></p><br><p><br></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>