Last week, the world of retro gaming was shaken by the news that the Neo Geo – once considered to be the Rolls-Royce of video game consoles – was making a comeback.
A system which was once so costly to own that it pretty much required you to remortgage your house, the Neo Geo's new iteration will cost a far more reasonable $250, with games retailing for $80. Compare this to the insane expense of owning an original AES, even today, and it's easy to see why so many people lost their minds over the announcement.
There's just one issue with all this excitement: who will actually benefit from sales of the new console and its games?
Back in 2020, Saudi Arabia's Electronic Gaming Development Company, a subsidiary of the non-profit Mohammed bin Salman Foundation (MiSK), acquired a 33.3% share of SNK and would eventually come to own the entire company. The foundation is controversial because it's owned by Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, a nation which has a deplorable human rights record by anyone's standards.
While Mohammed bin Salman has been seen as a more progressive leader than his forerunners and has introduced reforms in Saudi Arabia to improve women's rights (including the removal of a ban that prevented women from driving), he nonetheless rules the nation with an iron fist; those who disagree with his rule risk being sentenced to death, and he infamously ordered the assassination of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to a report by the US Central Intelligence Agency.
Mohammed bin Salman is a keen video gamer and, in recent years, has made aggressive moves in this space, beyond gobbling up SNK. He owns the EVO tournament, Pokémon GO developer Niantic, 10 percent of Capcom, 8.3 percent of Embracer (which, in turn, owns Neo Geo+ manufacturer Plaion), 7.54 percent of Nintendo, 5.94 percent of Take-Two Interactive – and is currently attempting to close the acquisition of Electronic Arts.
"Saudi Arabia, as a country, has been expanding its investments to many industries, including gaming," explains Eurogamer's Connor Makar. "The purpose of this is to diversify its industries away from oil, which, given recent global news, does make sense. SNK, while not the most expensive acquisition the country has made, is an example of total Saudi ownership. The country, through investment companies and funds, owns the entire company. Unlike Capcom, which is roughly 10 percent owned by the nation, SNK is fully owned by the state."
Why should this matter to the average King of Fighters fan, you might ask? "Being fully owned by Saudi Arabia, the company is tied to the country for good and ill," continues Makar. "Saudi Arabia has a poor human rights track record, and is currently ranked fourth globally in the modern slavery index. The money may be free-flowing, but where that money comes from does matter to people. There is, as such, an ethical component to supporting SNK in the minds of those who do not support Saudi Arabia."
While SNK has largely been left to run itself, its new owners have nonetheless found ways to exert their influence. "Saudi Arabia has used its acquisitions to promote the country itself," says Makar. "SNK created Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, a game which stars two celebrities with close ties to other Saudi Arabian ventures. It also promoted the esports World Cup, a massive tournament in Riyadh, as part of the nation's push to increase tourism and positive sentiment."
While media coverage of SNK's ownership has been forthcoming, games industry commentator Cheesemeister feels that those reporting on the recent Neo Geo+ announcement have failed to shed sufficient light on Saudi Arabia's crown prince and his activities. "It's been disheartening to see news outlets writing puff pieces and YouTubers advertising the recent rollout of the Neo Geo AES+ reproduction console with nary a mention of the involvement of [Mohammed bin Salman]. The commentary has centred on price comparisons with the '90s releases and technical details."
He certainly has a point. While we've always tried to provide a balanced and informed view of everything that happens in the video game industry, even Time Extension could perhaps have done more to highlight the connection between SNK and the MiSK Foundation. Even if such a link won't dissuade everyone from making a purchase, it will at least allow them to make an educated one.
SNK isn't the only video game company to come under scrutiny because of its owner's reputation. Veteran readers of the site will be keenly aware of our on-off relationship with ModRetro, the creator of the Chromatic and the forthcoming M64 – FPGA-based reproductions of the Game Boy Color and Nintendo 64, respectively.
The Chromatic was so good that we awarded it 9/10, but in light of ModRetro owner Palmer Luckey failing to keep his business interests separate, we decided to stop covering the company's products. Why, then, are we not doing the same for SNK, you could rightly argue, given Mohammed bin Salman's past?
It's difficult to avoid accusations of hypocrisy here, but I would counter by pointing out that Palmer Luckey is very much the face and spokesperson for ModRetro; he's featured in the promotional material and has done interviews about ModRetro products. It's much harder to unshackle Luckey from the product – and even harder when he decides to emblazon it with his arms company's logo.
SNK, on the other hand, has perhaps been given a little more leeway than it deserves, thanks to its rich history; in fact, you could justifiably say that SNK's glory days all took place years before the MiSK Foundation hoovered it up. That's perhaps why the Neo Geo+ announcement generated such frenzied interest, and why so many of us are willing to turn a blind eye to the actions of SNK's current owner.
Not everyone believes video games and the wider world should be so intrinsically mixed, however.
"Boycotting a games system due to its parent company's connections to a disliked regime is simplistic, and imposes a 'tyranny of virtue' on others who wish to enjoy a perfectly legal product," says video game historian and Time Extension contributor John Szczepaniak.
"Reading up on real-world history reveals a litany of sins, globally, none of which are ever addressed," he adds. "America, for example, is a nation built on stolen land, made rich through the labour of stolen people. Should we therefore boycott everything created by the USA? Do you realise your mobile phone contains cobalt, which is mined using child labour? Or that Apple's $2 billion acquisition of Israeli firm Q.ai now directly connects every iPhone to the genocide in Gaza? Or that large numbers of US politicians receive funding from AIPAC and thus are complicit in the Gaza genocide? Are you boycotting paying your taxes because of this?"
Indeed, while there are plenty of people who argue that hobbies and pastimes like gaming should never be immune from politics, it's becoming increasingly hard to separate our leisure time from wider geopolitical issues.
Uploading some family snaps to Instagram directly benefits its parent company, Meta, which is laying off workers despite posting bumper profits and paying virtually no tax on said profits. Xbox owner Microsoft is complicit in the slaughter of thousands of people in Gaza. The British National Health Service, used by millions of people, has a contract with the controversial American surveillance firm Palantir. Even something as simple as using Google to search the web supports a company that abandoned its "don't be evil" motto many, many years ago.
However, Premier League football club Newcastle United has been owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund since 2021, but its stadium is full for pretty much every game. Can you have your cake and eat it, ever?
We're slowly but surely coming to terms with the fact that many of the companies and brands we support aren't as squeaky clean as we'd perhaps like, but surely, the onus is then on us as consumers to vote with our wallets and shun such firms?
After all, it's not like there's no way to access SNK's Neo Geo library outside of what's available right now. The console first launched in 1990, and while expensive to own in 2026, there are plenty of second-hand AES and MVS units out in the field, and flash carts exist that grant access to the entire selection of software. You could also emulate the system on your PC or on a MiSTer FPGA (the latter of which ultimately provides the foundation for the forthcoming Neo Geo+).
All of these approaches mean you're not lining the pockets of the current owner (or, as The Video Game History Foundation's Frank Cifladi sardonically puts it, "between the Embracer ownership of the hardware and the SNK license, [you] get to give money to two Saudi-funded companies at the same time, what a deal." It's therefore somewhat straightforward to take a side in this debate, even if you still want to connect with SNK's games and hardware history.
There are also other issues related to Saudi ownership of SNK that go beyond simple moral ethics. "If, hypothetically, Saudi Arabia decided one day it wasn't happy with a certain company or industry, it could absolutely pull out," says Makar. "We've started seeing this already with LIV Golf, which Saudi Arabia will cease funding. SNK, unless Metal Slug has been popping off in ways I can hardly imagine, is not a massive money maker. It is not impossible that Saudi Arabia decides its money is best spent elsewhere."
Despite this, the Neo Geo+ will no doubt sell decently enough to be considered a success for both Plaion and SNK; from what we've heard so far, it looks set to be an excellent system – and the right to make a choice is what's most important here, according to Szczepaniak.
"My buying the AES+ is not me justifying immoral or unethical behaviour," he says. "But I also realise that denying myself a small amount of joy in an otherwise miserable world is not going to change anything. Everyone needs to make this decision on their own; you have the right to boycott, and the right to buy. If you dislike something, please do not engage with it. And likewise, allow others who choose to engage the freedom to do so."
This seems to be where both Szczepaniak and Cheesemeister agree, even if they will ultimately make different purchasing choices: while Szczepaniak is happy to purchase a Neo Geo+ and pay tribute to the company that inspired many of his childhood gaming adventures, Cheesemeister feels that the right to boycott is equally, if not more, important.
"How are we, the customers of video games, supposed to react when murderers come to sell us products?" concludes Cheesemeister. "For starters, we need to be better informed about whether supporting certain products will put our money directly in the pockets of villains. Let's make it a standard part of the conversation at the point of reporting so that it's not just swept under the rug. Announcement trailers certainly try to lure in those who just didn't know, and coverage merely echoing sales points does the public a disservice. Based on the knowledge that certain game products are morally compromised, we, the consumers, need to vote with our wallets. If you don't want to give money to MbS, don't buy Neo Geo or other SNK products. Boycott things that you find objectionable. We've got plenty of other games to play."