Disney, OpenAI, and Saudi Arabia

🚗 Tesla’s Record Q3 Sales - Tesla delivered a record 497,099 vehicles in Q3 2025, the highest quarterly figure in company history, thanks to continued strong demand and efficiency gains even as EV competition rises. Margins are still being watched closely by analysts, but investors headed into Q4 with more optimism. There is never a lack of drama with Elon and Tesla, but they sure can deliver.

🎮 Microsoft Hikes Xbox Game Pass Ultimate by 50% - Microsoft has raised Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to $29.99 a month, its steepest price jump yet, with new perks bundled in for subscribers. Lower plans remain the same price but get tweaks, as Microsoft leans harder on Game Pass for growth. It’s safe to say there’s been massive backlash, with the cancellation page for subscriptions crashing due to the amount of people jumping ship after the move.

🔥 Disney Sends Cease-and-Desist - Disney formally demanded Character.AI remove user-generated bots using Disney characters, citing copyright and safety concerns, especially after reports of misuse. Character.AI quickly complied, deleting the bots in question to address Disney’s complaints. When a brand as big as Disney steps in, it’s probably a smart idea not to get into a legal battle (we’ve seen what can happen when companies make the likes of Nintendo upset with copyright issues).

This week saw a historic collision of gaming and geopolitics, as an investor group led by Saudi Arabia unveiled a record $55 billion buyout to take Electronic Arts private in the largest leveraged acquisition in Wall Street history. Anchored by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and joined by private equity heavyweight Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, the deal values EA at $210 per share. This is a 25% premium on last week’s closing price and more than eleven times the price paid for LIV Golf.

A New Power Behind the Pixels
The acquisition hands the consortium full control of a publisher behind iconic franchises like EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA), Apex Legends, Battlefield, The Sims, and many more. By rolling these global brands under its umbrella, Saudi Arabia isn’t just investing in games, but in the culture, influence, and soft power that come with them. With $20 billion in new debt, it’s also betting that these beloved blockbusters can generate enough revenue to justify the eye-popping price.

Soft Power Play Or Something Else?
Analysts see gaming as a uniquely effective vehicle for Saudi ambitions: universally popular, youth-driven, and less politically fraught than other entertainment sectors. Riyadh, home to a population where over 70% are under 35, hopes to leverage EA’s reach to diversify its economy and recast its global image. Critics, however, say this is an extension of sportswashing, pointing to recent kingdom-led investments across sports and music as part of a wider image push that’s attracting closer regulatory scrutiny.

Changing the Game’s Power Structure
This isn’t just about controlling a publisher. The PIF-led group’s move from minority stakeholder to outright owner marks a decisive change for EA, historically one of the industry’s most independent behemoths. The consortium’s ambitions are clear, with plans to support Saudi’s growing esports industry and even the 2027 Olympic esports Games bid. The deal, which still faces regulatory and shareholder review, is expected to close by early 2027.

The Stakes for Everyone
Ultimately, the EA deal signals that Saudi Arabia isn’t content to buy a seat at the table; it wants to steer the gaming industry’s direction, and it’s willing to spend very big to do it. Whether this will help EA innovate and thrive or invite global backlash remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: with this kind of money in play, gaming’s global power dynamics are forever changed. And let’s be honest: did anybody really think Saudi Arabia was stopping at just sports?

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• Beginning December 16, Meta will begin using your conversations with its AI chatbot on Facebook, Instagram and other apps to more finely tailor ads and content to you. While users can’t opt out, Meta says it will automatically exclude sensitive topics from being used for ad targeting. Some people think this is a step in the right direction, but many others aren’t too happy with the obvious privacy concerns.
• A surge in adoptions of black cats is being linked to the hit animated film , which centers on a resilient black feline and has won over 55 awards including an Oscar and Golden Globe. Prior to the film, black cats were often last to be adopted a trend dubbed “Black Cat Bias.” But with Flow prompting shelters to receive calls from people asking specifically for black cats, rescues say they’ve seen a steady rise in placements. The film’s emotional storytelling and positive visuals are changing minds, reinforcing the message that personality matters more than coat color.
• OpenAI just launched Sora 2, a short video social app powered by its next-gen AI video model, letting users create HD clips from text prompts or insert themselves into AI scenes via a “Cameo” feature. The app mimics TikTok/YouTube with a vertically scrollable feed, comments, likes, and sharing. The launch trailer, if you haven’t seen it yet, is incredibly impressive and shows how much a leap there’s been since the original Sora.

Paulo Lins’ City of God really sticks with you because it feels so raw and real. It’s set in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas and follows kids growing up surrounded by poverty, crime, and drugs. At first, it’s a bit chaotic with so many names and stories, but over time you start to see how everything connects, which makes it even more powerful.

The book reads almost like real memories instead of a novel. It’s heavy and often heartbreaking, but that’s kind of the point; you see the cycles of violence and poverty that are nearly impossible to escape. What makes it hit even harder is that Lins lived through this world himself, so you know it’s not just an outsider’s snapshot but rather semi-biographical.

By the end, I felt like I had lived alongside the characters for years. It’s messy and tough to read at times, but it’s honest and unforgettable. If you want something that pulls you deep into another world and stays with you or you loved the movie as much as me, City of God is very worth it.

⭐ 4.8 / 5.0 in my book (no pun intended)

1. “I had a date”
2. "Not again. I'm not agreeing to any of this. I'll make this unusable."
3. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.”

Despite their tiny brains, bees can remember and recognize individual human faces using the same brain mechanisms as humans do. They might just be the most fascinating animal out there, and that’s saying something.

1. Captain America (Steve Rogers)
2. The Paper (Oscar Martinez)
3. Bambi (Thumper)