MrBeast, Saudi Arabia, and The New Internet

TL;DR

Saudi Arabia is strategically buying influence on YouTube and gaming to replace oil dependency with cultural and economic power.

Key Points

• 1.Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), worth nearly $1 trillion, is financing entertainment deals — including MrBeast's "Beastland" theme park in Riyadh, a 44-day event promoted directly by General Entertainment Authority head Turki Al-Sheikh.
• 2.MrBeast signed documents with Turki Al-Sheikh at least 5 months before announcing Riyadh as his location, and a government-cleared highway shutdown for his video was promoted by Al-Sheikh on social media afterward.
• 3.The most-watched podcast on YouTube is a Saudi Arabic-language self-help show with 150 million views — more than double Trump's Joe Rogan appearance (60 million views).
• 4.The PIF acquired EA (FIFA, Madden, The Sims) for $55 billion in September 2025 — history's largest leveraged buyout — and holds major stakes in Nintendo, Take-Two (GTA), Capcom, Nexon, and the creator of Pokémon Go.
• 5.Of the five best-selling video games of all time, four would be at least partly Saudi-financed if released today; Saudi Arabia has a national goal of producing 30 major games by 2030.
• 6.Saudi Arabia avoids direct government promotion, instead routing influence through trusted creators like KSI and Speed — a strategy most democratic governments completely fail to replicate on YouTube.