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George E. Osborn

@georgeosborn.bsky.social

1.8K followers 410 following 1.3K posts

“No, not that one”- Politico | Creator of Video Games Industry Memo | MD, Half-Space Consulting | Author of Power Play (Spring 2026) | Pun appreciator www.videogamesindustrymemo.com

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · Jun 24

If someone asks me if I have any professional advice about becoming a writer, I say no.

But if someone asks me for some unprofessional advice, I've got loads.

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Reposted by George E. Osborn

Raman Voranau @ramanvoranau.bsky.social · 10h

Interesting thoughts by @georgeosborn.bsky.social on why Electronic Arts’ acquisition, or rather, the way it was pushed, is actually another sign of a deeply eroded American democracy: www.videogamesindustrymemo.com/p/a-kushy-de...

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 8h

I’d like to make it clear for the record that this is why I love him.

See also: Diego Simeone admitting in the David Beckham documentary that he hammed up how badly he was hurt in the ‘98 World Cup.

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 8h

Leave Thomas Tuchel in an empty locked, windowless room and he’d still find someone to pick a fight with.

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

‘The stadium was silent’: Tuchel critical of England support during Wales win

The England head coach said after England’s 3-0 friendly win against Wales at Wembley: ‘We didn’t get any energy back from the stands’

www.theguardian.com

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 10h

It’s World Mental Health Day today. I used my introduction to yesterday’s VGIM to encourage everyone to check in with a friend, family member or colleague to see how they’re doing.

Reposted by George E. Osborn

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 1d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 1d

Finished writing a newsletter, edited a chapter of the book, did some client work, jumped on a flight home from Riga, and somehow wondering why I feel tired.

Well done, brain 👍

Reposted by George E. Osborn

Dan Whitehead @danwhitehead.net · 1d

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 1d

There is nothing faster in the world than a Ryanair plane coming in to land with just two minutes left to be “another on time flight”

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 1d

plz read what I wrote about the conference here: www.videogamesindustrymemo.com/p/natos-vide...

NATO’s video game frontline, 09/10/2025

It’s all gone a bit John le Carré 🕵️

www.videogamesindustrymemo.com

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 1d

How are video games being used as a frontier for information war? What are democracies doing to respond to the challenge? And how are organisations like NATO grappling with the problems?

Find out in this week's @vgim.bsky.social - videogamesindustrymemo.substack.com/p/natos-vide...

NATO’s video game frontline, 09/10/2025

It’s all gone a bit John le Carré 🕵️

videogamesindustrymemo.substack.com

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Reposted by George E. Osborn

Kevin Crowe @kevinscrowe.bsky.social · 1d

Alright. I wrote this about all this. #LTFC

medium.com/@KevinSCrowe...

Requiem for a team

It was the best of times. Then, in the blink of your blood-oranged eye, it was the worst. Again.

medium.com

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 2d

Thinking about @tommy.aiandgames.com‘s talk about generative AI’s actual use in games, which is stuff like consolidating tickets in product management software and creating a more effective search engine for art assets, while looking at this

Matt TK Taylor @tk.gg · 2d

The easiest way to show your newsroom is actually thinking about AI isn't the 50th summarization tool or chatbot. It's automating the jobs people don't want to do.

Like, bluesky's favourite: alt text!

I wrote about how we built this at the FT, with an interactive demo: tk.gg/posts/ai-alt...

A screenshot of the FT's CMS showing an image component and a sparkled 'Alt text generator' button

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 2d

I have since been informed by both commenters and attendees that there is a decent chance that this is, in fact, the Russians.

As you were.

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 2d

I'm attending a NATO conference today and someone has done the funniest thing possible with the name of their wi-fi network

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 2d

I'm attending a NATO conference today and someone has done the funniest thing possible with the name of their wi-fi network

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 2d

A totally normal day out for me: going to NATO’s Stratcomm conference to find out how video games are feeding the information environment shaping hybrid warfare.

More in @vgim.bsky.social tomorrow morning…

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 2d

Feed the data into Hinge…profit?

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 3d

Riga: it’s neat!

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 3d

And speaking of Irish tax credit, we might have some devil in the detail to explore. Time to get hunting 🫡

Jen @jenuinepanic.bsky.social · 3d

Look I'm happy there's an extension etc etc but, dare I say it, this is silly? Am I reading it wrong?
Expansion to post release content but only if the base game qualified for the original credit. There's currently low uptake because so few developers work qualifies for the original credit.

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 3d

I’ll also be popping some more stuff about this into next Friday’s Playing Politics newsletter for @vgim.bsky.social, so keep your eyes out for that.

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 3d

I interviewed former Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar earlier this year, who shared some tips on how to tweak the credit through effective lobbying.

www.videogamesindustrymemo.com/p/what-do-he...

How do you make a head of state care about video games policy?, 16/01/2025

Leo Varadkar, former Irish PM, stops by to share his thoughts

www.videogamesindustrymemo.com

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 3d

News: Ireland’s video game tax credit has been given a boost. The Digital Games Tax Credit has been extended until 2031 and now allows post-release claims (crucial in the modern games biz).

Justin O’Connor of Story Toys, who is a board member for Irish trade body IMIRT, posted this earlier.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 3d

I don’t want to say I’m unprepared for this international trip. But I did search “what is Latvia’s currency” shortly after landing in Riga airport.

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 3d

This is why it pays to have a great PR with a background in media relations. It stops cock ups, while also letting you shape the story by scarpering through the gleeful subtleties of the system.

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 3d

I chatted with a sports journalist recently who had to deal with a pissed off source because they’d chatted off the record about a story.

But the journo hadn’t quoted or referenced the source. They phoned up two other people, got the story on the record, and wrote it up.

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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 3d

My only addition to Chris’s excellent work is to remember that if you speak to media in any context, they’re looking to write something up.

On the record will quote you directly. Background will list you as a source.

But off the record doesn’t = a secret. It means “find another source.”

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