meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Intelligence from The Economist

On a win and a player: Britain’s gaming prowess

The Intelligence from The Economist

The Economist

News, Daily News, Global News

4.63.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As the world’s biggest gaming fair gets underway, our correspondent looks at the surprising success of Britain, the world’s third-largest exporter of video games. Europeans are giving up their vices, so the public takings from sin taxes are falling. And the rise of “Bangla Teslas”: battery-powered rickshaws in Bangladesh.


Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+


For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. 



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The Economist

0:02.0

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

0:13.0

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

0:15.0

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

0:20.0

Europe perspective on the events shaping your world.

0:23.6

Europe is phenomenally good at, you might say ruthless with its syntaxes.

0:29.6

Booze, tobacco, petrol, the sky's the limit.

0:33.6

The public health and public purse arguments for them are straightforward, but there is some inequality in their effects.

0:42.3

And the electric vehicle revolution has come for Bangladesh's rickshaws.

0:46.3

They might now be the world's biggest informal EV fleet.

0:50.3

Good news for driver's incomes and for riders' convenience, but everybody look out, these things are dangerously fast.

1:01.0

First up, though.

1:03.0

In 1997, a small team of software developers in the Scottish city of Dundee were about to release a title, which would change the way the non-gaming public would view video games.

1:27.5

Georgia Banjo is a Britain correspondent for The Economist.

1:30.8

It would go on to launch one of the best-selling series in games.

1:34.8

At the time, though, no one expected it would be a hit.

1:42.0

The game was a radical departure in tone for the studio.

1:45.0

DMA design at the time was best known for its lemming series,

1:49.0

which asked players to safely guide cute, green and blue blobs through a deadly obstacle course.

1:55.0

The new game would follow a small-time criminal, stealing cars, and terrorizing Harry Krishna's, all in a warped parody of America.

2:06.6

When the sixth installment of Grand Theft Daughter arrives next year, it will be less a video game released than a cultural moment.

2:14.6

The game has cost upwards of two billion to build, yet it's almost certain to turn a profit within its first week.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Economist, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Economist and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.