How Money Pulls Esports People In

Paris Marx is joined by Nathan Grayson to discuss how Saudi Arabia is buying its way into the sports, comedy, and video game industries in order to broaden its investment portfolio and launder its international reputation.

Nathan Grayson is a cofounder of Aftermath and the author of Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Aftermath launched a refreshed website. Check it out!

• Nathan wrote about the problems with the Saudi-EA deal.

• GeoGuessr users made their maps unplayable in protest against the game’s announced participation in the Esports World Cup.

• Here’s a more comprehensive list of Saudi Arabia’s game investments.

• And here’s a history of Saudi Arabia’s investments in sports.