Power Play
On sale
18th June 2026
Price: £24.99
‘Essential reading for anyone trying to understand where the next influence operation is being built’
ELIOT HIGGINS, Founder, BELLINGCAT
‘Should be required reading for those worried about the future of their hobby – and the democratic leaders who could help change the game’
MATT HONEYCOMBE-FOSTER, Deputy Editor, POLITICO
__________________________________
In Power Play, leading game industry expert George E. Osborn reveals how video games – the world’s largest entertainment medium – are being used by autocrats, populists and violent extremists to influence the real world around us.
Video games are the world’s largest entertainment medium: they are played by billions of people, across all age demographics, and they generate hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue every year.
But video games are more than an entertainment product – they 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 while 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 utilised 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, it’s 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.
ELIOT HIGGINS, Founder, BELLINGCAT
‘Should be required reading for those worried about the future of their hobby – and the democratic leaders who could help change the game’
MATT HONEYCOMBE-FOSTER, Deputy Editor, POLITICO
__________________________________
In Power Play, leading game industry expert George E. Osborn reveals how video games – the world’s largest entertainment medium – are being used by autocrats, populists and violent extremists to influence the real world around us.
Video games are the world’s largest entertainment medium: they are played by billions of people, across all age demographics, and they generate hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue every year.
But video games are more than an entertainment product – they 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 while 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 utilised 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, it’s 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.
Reviews
George E. Osborn has done what too few researchers and journalists bother to do: taken video games seriously as an information environment. The same ecosystems I've watched be exploited for disinformation, the Discord servers, the Twitch streams, the in-game communities, are mapped here with forensic clarity. Power Play is essential reading for anyone trying to understand where the next influence operation is being built.
With the passion of a player and the smarts of a political operator, Osborn shows us how the stratospherically successful video games industry is being co-opted by autocrats the world over. Should be required reading for those worried about the future of their hobby - and the democratic leaders who could help change the game.