Saudi Arabia - not just oil
What’s your image of Saudi Arabia?
Do you know anything about their economy?
Do they seem like a “good country?”
Many journalists believe that Saudi Arabia has 2 big goals:
To diversify it’s economy away from oil
To create a more positive image of the country
Do you know anything Saudi Arabia has done to try to reach it’s goals?
LIV golf
Saudi Arabia tried to buy the PGA but were blocked from doing so.
As a result, in 2022 Saudi Arabia launched LIV golf, a new golf tournament league to rival the PGA.
Q: How can they attract golfers to play in LIV golf instead of the PGA?
All players can get some prize money of at least $50,000. In the PGA usually only the top 50-70 players can win prize money)
The top players (around 10) were given a guaranteed salary of at least $100 million over 4 years.
Q: What could they do to be more attractive to viewers than the PGA?
Q: Can you explain why these changes were made?
All players started at different holes playing at the same time
Rules were more relaxed (players could wear shorts in temperatures over 32°C, music was played during the tournament)
After tournaments famous DJ’s held concerts at night parties.
One season only had 14 events (the PGA has over 50)
Reasons:
By letting all players start at the same time, it makes the tournaments shorter so TV viewers can see lots of action at the same time.
The relaxed rules, music and DJ’s were to target younger audiences than the PGA
Players said they liked the constant background music. It stopped them noticing noises from fans
The shorter seasons gave the players more free time in the year.
Q: Do you think LIV golf can be a success?
In 2026 LIV golf is in trouble. Reports estimate it loses $100,000 a month due to low viewership and a lack of sponsors.
On Sundays LIV directly competes with the PGA in the US. The PGA gets 15-20 times more viewers.
At the end of April Saudi Arabia announced they would stop funding LIV golf at the end of this season.
Q: If you were the PGA, would you allow the LIV golfers to come back to the PGA?
EA games
Electronic Arts or EA, is the biggest pure-gaming company in the U.S.
It’s most famous titles include:
EA FC - formerly FIFA, it’s the most popular football game in Europe and South America. A new version is released every year.
Madden (NFL), NHL, PGA Tour, F1 - are released each year and the leader in that type of sports game.
The Sims - a popular life simulation game
Various Star Wars games
Apex, Battlefield = popular first person shooters. You play online with many people.
In 2025 Saudi Arabia announced it’s buying the company for $55 billion dollars which is 11 times more than they invested in LIV golf.
Why did Saudi Arabia buy EA?
Do you think it’s a good investment?
They believe it’s a good investment.
EA games are usually family friendly (not too violent, sexual or scary) which fits the conservative views of the government
The number of gamers is growing globally and e-sports is becoming more successful
The sports games are a stable source of revenue because fans by a new version every year.
Games now have many micro-transactions. Players can…
pay to unlock new players or special uniforms
buy loot boxes (Gacha) which randomly give you new items
On top of that, they plan to build an EA office in Saudi Arabia so local people can learn to make games.
Some human rights groups say this is sportswashing or gamewashing
Sportswashing = when a company or country uses it’s investment in sport to clean it’s bad image. They will make their own local tournament, buy a sports team or host the Olympics or World Cup.
Q: Can you think of any other examples of sportswashing?
World Cup hosts: Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar
Olympic Hosts: China, Russia
Saudi Arabia sponsors and hosts many boxing events, owns a Premier League team and has an F1 race
The deal hasn’t been finalized but Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, is brokering the deal so the government will most likely approve the sale.
Riyadh Comedy Festival
In 2025 Saudi Arabia invited over 50 international comedians to perform at the World’s largest comedy festival.
Comedians were paid between $150,000 and $1.6 million for performing at the festival and had to make at least 5 social media posts a day during the festival to promote it and the country.
Q: What was the goal of this festival?
Q: How did the fans of these comedians react?
Experts believe the Saudi government wants to…
provide entertainment for young local people
get wealthy Saudis to spend their money in the country instead of going overseas to spend money
establish the country as an international destination for entertainment and arts
clean their bad human rights image known as "'comedy-washing” or “art-washing”
Many fans of these comedians criticized them. Comedians always want “freedom of speech” but that doesn’t exist in Saudi Arabia.
What topics were the comedians not allowed to talk about?
They were strictly not allowed to criticize
Islam
the government
the royal family
the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018
The comedians were allowed to joke about dating, sex, and problems in western countries. Saudi Arabian comedians usually don’t have the same freedoms.
Can this help make the culture less conservative?
In the last few years several of the biggest Saudi comedians were sent to prison for over 10 years.
Some of them were tortured. One comedian’s wife was also tortured. The police arrested some of their family members, including children, to force the comedians to publicly announce their support for the government.
Movie Production
In 2018 Saudia Arabia lifted their ban on public cinemas.
Now they want to develop an international film studio system in the country.
They plan to make films in the country that can showcase the Saudi culture, country and history in a positive light.
show something in a positive light = make it seem good
Their first big international film, Desert Warrior, is about a Princess who unites many tribes and becomes a warrior to defeat an evil Emperor. It’s based on the true Battle of Dhi Qar in the 7th century.
To appeal to international audiences the movie is mostly in English.
It stars Anthony Mackie (American) as a warrior and Ben Kingsley (English) as the evil Emperor.
Filming began in September of 2021 and the budget was $70 million.
Do you think this movie can be an international hit? How about a local hit?
Actually, the budget ballooned over 100% to $150 million.
balloon = (verb) increase suddenly in size
What problems do you think they had filming in Saudi Arabia?
weather
local talent
COVID
Weather - Many of the actors, and production team got heatstroke from the heat and sun so they had to take many breaks in filming
heatstroke = feel sick from high heat
Local talent - Saudia Arabia tried making the movie without having proper sound studios or experienced sounds mixers and set designers.
The first sound studios and sets that were made were extremely poor quality. Foreign staff had to be flown in from overseas and everything was rebuilt
COVID - The start of the film was delayed by several months due to COVID.
Results
The film was finally released in 2026. It made under $750,000 globally.
It made less than 1% of it’s 150 million budget making it the biggest box office flop in history
flop = failure
People in the Middle East said it was historically inaccurate and they didn’t like that the actors spoke English
International audiences didn’t understand the confusing story
What kind of movies should Saudi Arabia try to make in the future?
The country hasn’t given up on it’s film dreams. They are offering a 60% cash subsidy for productions in the country.
Filmmakers have been asked to bring their crew, equipment and sets into the country from overseas
Amnesty International, the largest international human rights group, accuses Saudi of:
Arresting thousands of people and journalists who critcize the government or royal family
Torturing prisoners
Not providing equal rights for women.
In Saudi Arabia women…
must do everything their husbands tell them to do
can’t leave their houses alone without a male guardian (family member or husband)