Final Fantasy VII, Naruto Games and Anime Recovered From Osama Bin Laden’s Compound

November 2, 2017

Newly released files recovered from the 2011 raid of Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan reveal that his fighters may have been spending their free time playing Japanese RPG video games and watching anime.

Pirated copies of video games, Arabic-subtitled anime, erotic media and others were among the 470,000 files released by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Monday.

According to the CIA press release, all the documents that have been released to date also contain Bin Laden’s personal journal, operating system files, and more than 18,000 document files.

It is worth noting that Bin Laden may not have personally downloaded or accessed the files himself. CIA director Mike Pompeo, however, noted that the files’ release would allow authorities “to gain further insights into the plans and workings of this terrorist organization.”

Some 79,000 audio and image files were also released containing public speech practice reels, audio correspondence, and other forms of media that either created or downloaded for Al Qaeda use. There were also 10,000 video files containing an assortment of Al Qaeda “home videos,” jihadist propaganda, draft videos or statements by Osama Bin Laden, and even viral YouTube videos in the collected files.

The CIA also confirmed that Al Qaeda fighters had a copy of Resident Evil, Animes Storm Rider: Clash Of The Evils and Batman: Gotham Knight, Antz, and Final Fantasy VII, which was not specified if it was the game, the anime, or the CG movie. PCGamesN reports that the collection also contained references to several DS games via emulator, including New Super Mario Bros and Animal Crossing Wild World.

While the Verge had earlier posted a link to the “The Abbottabad files” on the CIA website, it is currently inaccessible as of press time.

Feature Image (Left) via Flickr / p50310p (CC BY 2.0), (Right) via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Share this Article