I’m meant to be on BBC News in about five minutes, tune in if you get a chance

One thought: I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the “efficiencies” involve moving jobs to Riyadh. The cost of hiring a Saudi game dev is lower than the US by some margin. And the national strategy needs to generate a fuzzy “39k job opportunities” by 2030. Might try to make inroads there.

Jason Schreier@jasonschreier.bsky.social · 21h ago

EA's annual Ebitda is around $1.5 billion, which should be enough to service the interest payments. But the publisher has told debt investors that it will cut $700 million in annual costs including $170 million in "organizational efficiencies," per Bloomberg. In other words: mass layoffs

Somewhat breached the “I’m not working on holiday rule” by talking to the BBC News about EA’s acquisition by the Public Investment Fund

saying this not as a dig to Paul but as a general point, but it does worry me that we've ended up in a world where the two options are seemingly "leftist bubble" or "oh hey the nazis are here" - surely we should be able to have a politically heterogenous platform with tight rules on hate speech etc?

Paul Bernal@paulbernal.bsky.social · 2d ago

The new CEO of Bluesky wants to change Bluesky from being a leftist bubble. The thing is, there’s nothing wrong with being a leftist bubble: the idea that everything has to be all-encompassing and suitable for everyone is a trap. 🧵 1/4

Holidays are neat

Yes, I’m on holiday. But I’m also pleased to say that I’ll be speaking at gamescom congress with a member of Sweden’s Psychological Defence agency about the role video games can play in strengthening European democracy. More info here: congress.gamescom.global/en/

The most “so this is the modern games industry” moment I’ve had is 007: First Light booting me back to the menu while halfway through The Bond Song because the game has to download more content 🤦‍♂️

Osborn film reviews from the weekend part 1: The Odyssey leaps to the top of my Christopher Nolan film rankings. Somehow maintains the ethereal eerie and often outright horrifying nature of classical stories, while also offering up blockbuster thrills at a pace that justifies a 3 hour run time.

Going on holiday for a week, punch me if you see me working

I haven't seen it said out loud yet (although it may well have been), but it's noteworthy that all the FIFA reform efforts are being pushed to take place before the US midterm elections. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Fifa rapidly accelerates plan to expand World Cup to 64 teams from 2030 tournament

Fifa is accelerating plans to expand the World Cup to 64 teams from 2030 and has opened a tender to research companies to assess the economic benefits on a hugely accelerated timescale

theguardian.com

How’s your Friday going?

sigh etc

Jacob Hausdorf@jhausdorf.bsky.social · 6d ago

Presented without words

FIFA, which has taken wads of cash from Saudi Arabia, is using a sales pitch from JP Morgan to flog a privatised part of itself to Jared Kushner's brother. EA, formerly the maker of the FIFA games, has been bought by the PIF, with debt financing from JP Morgan and investment from Jared Kushner. Hm.

Immediately made me think about this for some reason

GamesIndustry.biz@gibiz.bsky.social · 6d ago

Following the release of Christopher Nolan's Odyssey film on July 17, daily active users of Assassin's Creed Odyssey increased significantly across all platforms www.gamesindustry.biz/analyst-data...

Xero: corporation tax? what's that and why do you want to know what it might be costing you before you submit a return?

Jonn Elledge@jonnelledge.bsky.social · 6d ago

suggested slogans for annoyingly popular but inherently terrible bits of software, number #1 in what promises to be a very long series: "Adobe Acrobat: why don't YOU go fuck yourself?"

"The commercial element includes offices, a triple garage, single garage and extensive outbuildings, currently arranged to provide a versatile entertainment venue."

Madame Pinkness@madamepinkness.bsky.social · 7d ago

Any time I see a noteworthy house listing, oh has @oldenoughtosay.com seen it yet? "Extensive entertainment facilities" indeed. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/9...

I had a fun moment yesterday when I received a court summons (!) for not paying council tax. The problem, aside from the fact that I obviously do? It was for a property I moved out of four years ago, which the council listed me as the owner of in March 2026 (without informing me).

I remember first reading this, thinking 'I bet Jared Kushner is involved', opening the news story and going 'ya-huh'

Sky News@news.sky.com · 7d ago

FIFA plans to speed up launch of new World Cup spin-off

What happens when Saudi Arabia’s sporting soft power strategy falls apart? It buys the digital sporting superpower that shapes billions of fans perceptions instead. Some musings now that EA’s acquisition by the PIF is all but complete: www.videogamesindustrymemo.com/p/saudi-arab...

Idle morning thought: is it better to protest the insertion of crap generative AI services into every piece of software by not using it OR by burning the company's token budget by using it for the most pointless, useless repetitive shite imaginable?

Always fun to look at the Games Workshop annual report. “in the last financial period we sold over five million novels.”

Come see me speak about Power Play in Waterstones in Battersea in two weeks time OR ELSE www.waterstones.com/events/an-ev...

Audibly laughed at this comment from Paddy Young about viral videos on Reels et al

Took a little time to clip up Craig Mazin giving a shout-out to Trapped in the Network, a report from VGIM supported by @outmakinggames.bsky.social, about censorship of LGBTQ+ game content across the world. Listen below 👇

I have had a short skim read of this and it is fan-fuckin'-tastic work. Absolutely essential reading for any game studio thinking about trust and safety work.

Dr. Rachel Kowert@drkowert.bsky.social · last wk.

The report menu is the most reaf governance document your studio owns. Let's talk about what the gap between a code of conduct says a studio cares about and what the report menu can actually express ... because that discrepancy comes at a cost. open.substack.com/pub/rachelko...

Barely concealing the fact that I'm sub-posting someone. But if someone says they're busy but'll do you a favour when they're able to, DO NOT give them a 'friendly nudge' to check how it is going. Otherwise, that favour will magically take a lot longer to materialise.

ah, jet lag. my old enemy.

erm, Craig Mazin recommended VGIM’s first ever report about censorship of LGBTQ+ — funded by @outmakinggames.bsky.social — video games to listeners of his podcast. Avoid the dreadful AI transcription by listening here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...

Sad to be departing New York, the land of a million sandwiches