Most polls have failed to determine the winner of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, with the exception of the British firm "JL Partners," which not only predicted Donald Trump would win the popular vote, but also accurately determined his share of electoral votes a month before his victory.
The secret to this success lies in surveying video game players, and said that the company, through surveys embedded in mobile games, has succeeded in uncovering unexpected support for Trump among young black and Hispanic voters, a group that does not usually trust traditional polls.
Digital Battlefield
Video games are no longer just a hobby or an art form, but have become a digital battleground for corporate and government interests, and have become one of the clearest manifestations of soft power in the contemporary world.
In his book "The Power Game", the technical expert George Osborne explained that the digital world has a tangible impact on our physical reality, pointing out that many countries' systems realized this possibility early on and moved to control this space and use it for their own interests.
Saudi Arabia at the forefront of investors
The British newspaper pointed out that Saudi Arabia comes at the forefront of countries investing in this field of electronic games.
Last September, Riyadh partnered with U.S. investment groups to acquire Electronic Arts, the developer of popular chains such as "Bfields" and "The Sims," in a deal worth $55 billion.
The acquisition is part of a strategic shift towards digital entertainment, with Saudi Arabia also acquiring games such as Pokémon Go and founding an organization that runs the world's largest professional esports tournament, to link goodwill to financial incentives and create a space that is difficult to criticize.
With 700 million domestic players, Beijing has imposed strict licensing laws and tracking software to monitor players, turning online gaming into an extension of the surveillance state.
In 2019, the World Health Organization included "gaming disorder" in its classification of diseases, after which China updated its laws and forced developers to verify the identity of players to monitor playtime and spending for public health reasons, creating a new layer that allows the state to tighten its surveillance network.
The repercussions are more serious in Russia
In Russia, the repercussions are more serious, as evidenced by the controllers used by Russian and Ukrainian drone pilots in their ongoing war, as well as the support of the Russian armed forces to develop free-to-play strategy games such as "Squad 22: ZOV" that focus on the "invasion of Ukraine," creating a virtual proxy war in which players are unconsciously engaged.
Russia understands that games are at the heart of connected digital communities, and that any controversy within them can spread and repercussions in reality.
While Britain launched a £28.5 million fund to help developers, the Saudi Games Development Fund launched a $38 billion budget.
In the absence of a real alternative, developers are forced to make concessions to secure market access or investment, inevitably impacting audiences targeted by veiled political messaging.
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