How a Nintendo Match Helped Seal Sweden's NATO Bid — A Soft‑Power Moment on Gotland

Unexpected Diplomacy: Super Smash Bros and Sweden's NATO Accession

James Cleverly, the then UK foreign secretary, played an unlikely role in advancing Sweden's NATO membership after defeating the son of Swedish diplomat Tobias Billström at the Nintendo game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Telegraph reports.

In June 2023 Mr Billström invited Mr Cleverly to his summer residence on the Baltic island of Gotland during crucial negotiations over Stockholm's bid to join NATO. After a dinner of smoked fish, Gotland potatoes and saffron pancakes, conversation turned to the core issues of Russia, Ukraine and Sweden's accession process — until Mr Billström's 11‑year‑old son unexpectedly arrived and challenged the visitors to a round of Nintendo fighting games.

'The son picked us out one by one and challenged us to Nintendo Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Everyone lost to him except Cleverly,' Mr Billström writes in his memoir Crunch Time, which so far is published only in Swedish.

Mr Billström says the informal evening helped forge personal ties that smoothed the diplomatic process. At a joint press conference during the visit, Mr Cleverly pledged to 'push for the speedy completion of your accession process.' Less than a year after that Nintendo match, Sweden became a full NATO member.

Context and Aftermath

Sweden (alongside Finland) applied to join NATO in the wake of Russia's full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, seeking security guarantees after decades of neutrality. Billström — one of the architects of Sweden's accession — later left the foreign ministry for the defence sector and now serves as strategy director at Nordic Air Defence (NAD), advising governments on protecting critical infrastructure from Russian drone attacks.

Billström remains sceptical that Vladimir Putin has a genuine interest in a durable peace in Ukraine. He tells readers that Putin has tied his political existence to undermining Ukrainian independence and that the prospects for a lasting peace while Putin remains in power are low.

NAD has been reported to be developing low‑cost 'mini‑missiles' to neutralise Russian drones as an economical alternative to intercepting them with expensive fighter jets — part of a wider European effort to strengthen defences against new threats.

Why It Matters

The anecdote highlights how informal, personal moments can lubricate high‑stakes diplomacy. Video games and other shared pastimes have become a recurring soft‑power tool among world leaders and senior officials: former NATO secretary‑general Jens Stoltenberg enjoys strategy games; former US presidents and first ladies have been photographed playing portable consoles and household gaming systems; and, more recently, reports suggest that other exiled leaders have turned to gaming while abroad.

Bottom line: Major geopolitical outcomes often rest on formal negotiations, but the human, informal moments — a meal, a summer night on Gotland and an impromptu Nintendo match — can help build the trust and rapport that make agreements possible.