George E. Osborn is a video games industry expert with over a decade and a half of experience explaining games to the wider world. Osborn was previously Head of Campaigns and Communications at the UK video games industry trade association, Ukie, where he drew upon his expertise in media, politics and the video games sector to tell the games industry’s story to media, business, and politicians across the UK and beyond between 2019-2023.
Since leaving Ukie, Osborn founded Half-Space Consulting – a business dedicated to bridging the divide between the games sector and the wider world with clients including regulators such as The Games Rating Authority, NGOs such as the United Nations, and not-for-profits such as The Lucy Faithfull Foundation.
He is also the creator of Video Games Industry Memo (VGIM), a weekly newsletter covering the games industry for professionals, major regulators, policy officials, business leaders, and journalists around the world. A recognized voice within the media, Osborn and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Politico, Sky News, The Guardian, BBC World Service, Bloomberg and Times Radio, among many others, discussing the intersection of economic, regulatory, technological and cultural topics in regards to video games. He lives in London.
Description
“At their best, video games are a wellspring of joy, ideas, and connection worldwide. But as George E. Osborn makes unnervingly clear in this important book, reactionary movements have increasingly exploited this misunderstood medium. Perfectly accessible for readers who know nothing about video games and frequently surprising even for those who know a lot, Power Play uncovers a hidden history of the contemporary world, showing the essential but often overlooked role of video games in shaping everything from the invention of the iPhone to the election of Donald Trump. Osborn warns that bad actors have a big head start in grasping and harnessing the political power of games. This book is the best way for the rest of the world to catch up.”
— Rollo Romig, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist I Am on the Hit List and writer for the New York Times Magazine
"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 Ive 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."
— Eliot Higgins, Founder, Bellingcat
“In Power Play, George Osborn lays out exactly how we got here: how technology developed for entertainment became a way for political campaigns and regimes to influence millions. He exposes how the Saudi Arabian, Chinese, and Russian states and extremists across the world have leveraged the power of games, and how far behind democracies are in understanding or countering this. Anyone who still thinks that video games are trivial will learn from this book exactly why they are not.”
— Keza MacDonald, Video Games Editor, The Guardian
“Video games have become one of the most consequential arenas of political influence in the world. Power Play reveals how the worlds most powerful entertainment medium became its most contested geopolitical battleground and is essential reading for anyone trying to understand where culture, technology, and power collide.”
— Rachel Kowert, PhD, Founder of Psychgeist and Visiting Researcher at the University of Cambridge
“In his revelatory Power Play, Osborn masterfully exposes how extremists and state actors have transformed gaming platforms into global gathering places where radical ideas are beta-tested before bleeding into reality. This is an urgent, fascinating read that will fundamentally change how you understand modern power.”
— Kelly Clancy, author of Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World