In this Fatal Fury screenshot: City of the Wolves, Cristiano Ronaldo is preparing to attack his opponent.
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Until today, Fatal Fury, a beloved series of 2D combat games at a quick rate, had not seen a new entry since 1999. So, when the Japanese video game developer SNK announced Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, released on April 24, the fans were excited.
This excitement turned into perplexity when the company revealed last month that the world football star Cristiano Ronaldo would be a playable character, joined a few days later by Salvatore Ganacci – a Bosnia -Swedish DJ.
It’s more than a way to sell a single video game. It is also the fruit of the efforts of Saudi Arabia to invest in sport and entertainment.
Thanks to its non -profit organization, the MISK Foundation, founded by the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, in Saudi Arabia, now holds 96% of the SNK. Ronaldo plays for a Saudi football team in the Saudi league belonging to the Saudi royal family. Ganacci occurred during Saudi sporting events.
Michael Townsend, a creator of combat game content, known as Roooflemonger, says he saw how Ronaldo’s star power, which has more than 650 million followers on Instagram, attracts attention.
“I have already seen a lot of people who would not have had any interest in the game saying because their favorite player is in the game, they will buy the game,” explains Townsend.
Kristin Diwan, a principal researcher from Arab Gulf States Institute, says that this strategy is aligned with the broader investment project of Saudi Arabia known as Saudi Vision 2030.
“There is a great push towards sports and entertainment, and to these more creative areas,” explains Diwan.
But the image of Saudi Arabia remains deeply polarizing. The country faces world criticism for its human rights file, including the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA determined in 2021 was ordered by Mohammed Bin Salman. In addition, within the kingdom, homosexual relations are always punishable by law.
Tanner J., a blogger who writes on fighting games on his website, Them’s Fighting Words, says that these contradictions are difficult to ignore, especially for the LGBTQ +community. He underlines the fact that companies associated with Saudi Vision 2030 paid a lot of money to advertise during game tournaments.
“You can almost use the word” betrayal “to join this project very closely,” he said.
It is also skeptical that Ronaldo is the person to improve the image of the kingdom, noting the allegations of rape that the star has encountered. Ronaldo denied allegations, which did not lead to official accusations.
But Tanner J. establishes a line between criticizing Saudi Vision 2030 and boycotting the new Fatal Fury game: “I do not necessarily believe that a consumption of the product itself is an approval of the Saudi project,” he said.
For his part, Townsend says he will continue to make videos on Fatal Fury on his YouTube channel. He said, despite the Saudi property of SNK, his appreciation for the series has not changed.
“The matches are always the games for me. Maybe people at the top are different, but I’m still there for the games I (adored) grow.”
SNK, the Misk Foundation and the representatives of Cristiano Ronaldo did not respond to the requests for NPR comments on the appearance of the athlete in the game.
