Now, I know that for almost everyone playing videogames is an escape from the real world. And goodness knows, we need whatever escapes we can get these days. But… well, politics affects every aspect of our daily lives whether we actively engage in the political process or not.

You see, even at the most basic level of buying a game, you engage with politics. The games content rating (like ESRB, PEGI, etc)? They came about because of political moves to regulate and control the industry. The price you pay? Politics (tax rate paid on the game). The ability to actually play the game at all? Politics (plenty of countries ban games that don’t align with their world view).

So politics is there, even if you don’t want it to be.

And that’s before we get into the openly political games out there. Because they most certainly do exist, much to the chagrin of some folk (lets call them the “GG Mob”… you know who and what i mean by that). “Papers, Please” is a political game, and a quite popular and successful one. Pretty much anything by Hideo Kojima/Kojima Productions has political messages woven througout their structure and narratives.

Hell, Final Fantasy VII, one of the most beloved JRPGs of all time is insanely political. Indeed, it’s one of the most openly political games ever released by a major publisher.

But what has brought this on, Robb? Well, since you ask, it has been the announcement of the new SNK Neo Geo console. Now, SNK and the Neo Geo brand are beloved by gamers of a certain vintage such as myself. The Neo Geo was THE ultimate machine to own in the early 90s. You literally owned an arcade machine if you were lucky (or wealthy) enough to own a Neo Geo AES.

And it’s back. Kinda. A new ASIC powered AES+ is due from Neo Geo (it’s an FPGA powered system with a fixed firmware by the look of it). And while not exactly cheap, one of these new machines is a hell of a lot cheaper than the original hardware is these days.

But there is an elephant in the room.

You see, SNK today is not the same SNK of 30 years ago. Rather than being a Japanese owned arcade gaming powerhouse, SNK is now part of the Saudi Arabian “soft power” system, having been bought by MiSK (the investment foundation run by the Saudi Crown Prince). And let’s be honest, when it comes to stuff like human rights, well… Saudi Arabia isn’t exactly a shining beacon of tolerance and freedom. Indeed, Saudi Arabia is one of the most repressive, abusive nations on the face of the earth. It regularly executes criminals in public. It assassinated a journalist in a foreign country in a particularly nasty manner. It frequently gets accused of keeping foreign nationals effectively hostage in low paid, menial and dangerous jobs. Basically, it isn’t a particularly nice country.

And of course, some people, rightly in my opinion, are choosing to boycott the new Neo Geo because of who is behind it and where their money will eventually end up. And I’m one of them. I’d love one of the new systems and some games to go with it. And with a bit of saving I could afford to do so. But I’m actively choosing not to. And that’s becasue my morlas won’t allow me to do so.

Now, I’m not naive. I’m 47 years old, and I’ve been around the block a few times in my life. I know the world isn’t a black and white binary between “good” and “bad”. It’s shades of grey. And I’m painfully aware of how it is all but impossible to only get through life buying products from “good” companies who don’t have involvement in morally dubious countries/businesses. But when I can make an active choice to not support someone or something that is so clearly and directly linked to a regime such as Saudi Arabia I do.

Of course, the usual “GG Mob” have come crawling out of their mothers basements to decry people like me as “sanctimonious virtue signallers” who are trying to “steal their joy”. Well, if they really want to play Neo Geo that much there are plenty of ways that they can already do so without helping fund an abusive Government. Emulation, the MiSTER FPGA, original hardware… So no “joy” is being stolen. And in a way i pity these people. They place their fleeting moments of “joy” over making morally sound decisions. The selfishness is really rather sad. The need to place themselves at the centre of existence. It, to me, shows an emptiness and lack of moral conscience.

So yeah, politics is woven into gaming whether these people like it or not. And by choosing to prioritise their personal “joy”, they are making avery, VERY political statement.