George Osborn, strategist, author (Power Play: Video Games, Politics, and the Battle for Global Influence.)

George Osborn is a journalist, strategist, and analyst whose work explores the increasingly fraught intersection of video games, business, and politics. He has worked as a reporter, consultant, and as Head of Campaigns and Communications at Ukie, the UK trade body for games, developing a rare vantage point on how the medium shapes, and is shaped by, power.

He is also the founder of Half-Space Consulting and the editor of the Video Games Industry Memo newsletter, where he examines the forces driving the modern games business. In his new book, Power Play: Video Games, Politics, and the Battle for Global Influence, he argues that games have become far more than entertainment: they are now digital third places, contested spaces in which authoritarian regimes, populists, and extremists seek to wield influence.

LINKS:

George Osborn:

The book: Power Play – buy via Bookshop.org UK (supports independent booksellers)Power Play – Waterstones

Power Play – Bookshop.org US 

The newsletter: Video Games Industry Memo – George's newsletter (free to subscribe)

The Games: 

1. GoldenEye 007 (N64, 1997) 
2. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64, 2000) 
3. Championship Manager 01/02 
4. Mass Effect 2 
5. Balatro

Also mentioned Bellingcat – investigative journalism outlet founded by Eliot Higgins 

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