Updated May 1, 2025 at 7:01 PM EDT
Until today, Fatal Fury, a beloved series of fast-paced 2D fighting games, hadn't seen a new entry since 1999. So when Japanese video game developer SNK announced Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, released April 24, fans were excited.
That excitement turned to bewilderment when the company revealed last month that global soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo would be a playable character, joined days later by Salvatore Ganacci — a Bosnian-Swedish DJ.
This is more than a way to sell a single video game. It's also the fruit of Saudi Arabia's efforts to invest in sports and entertainment.
Through its nonprofit organization, the MiSK Foundation, founded by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia now owns 96% of SNK. Ronaldo plays for a Saudi Pro League soccer team owned by the Saudi royal family. Ganacci has performed at Saudi sporting events.
Michael Townsend, a fighting game content creator known as Rooflemonger says he's seen how the star power of Ronaldo, who has more than 650 million followers on Instagram, is attracting attention.
"I've already seen many people who would not have had any interest in the game say because their favorite player is in the game, they're going to buy the game," Townsend says.
Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar with the Arab Gulf States Institute, says this strategy is aligned with Saudi Arabia's broader investment project known as Saudi Vision 2030.
"There's a big push towards sports and entertainment, and to these more creative fields," Diwan says.
But Saudi Arabia's image remains deeply polarizing. The country faces global criticism for its human rights record, including the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA in 2021 determined was ordered by Mohammed Bin Salman. Also, inside the kingdom, same-sex relationships are still punishable by law.
Tanner J., a blogger who writes about fighting games on his website, Them's Fighting Words, says these contradictions are hard to ignore, especially for the LGBTQ+ community. He points to the fact that companies associated with Saudi Vision 2030 have paid lots of money to advertise at gaming tournaments.
"You could almost use the word 'betrayal' to partner up very closely with this project," he says.
He's also skeptical that Ronaldo is the person to improve the Kingdom's image, noting the rape allegations that the star has faced. Ronaldo has denied the allegations, which have not led to formal charges.
But Tanner J. draws a line between criticizing Saudi Vision 2030 and boycotting the new Fatal Fury game: "I don't believe necessarily a consumption of the product itself is an endorsement of the Saudi Arabian project," he says.
For his part, Townsend says that he'll continue to make videos about Fatal Fury on his YouTube channel. He says, despite SNK's Saudi ownership, his appreciation for the series hasn't changed.
"The games are still the games to me. Maybe the people at the top are different, but I'm still here for the games I [loved] growing up."
SNK, the MiSK Foundation, and representatives for Cristiano Ronaldo have not responded to NPR's requests for comment about the athlete's appearance in the game.
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