‘Fortnite on steroids’: the virtual gaming worlds transformed to train British soldiers

The Guardian UK Tuesday 04 August 2026, 04:00 UTC By Aisha Down 1 min read

Key Points

Inside Skyral, part of a consortium that won a £2bn MoD contract to help forces game out complex decisionsOn a sunny July day in Riga, Latvia, a Nato convoy drives down a street lined with kebab shops and a pharmacy. At a downtown intersection, there is the sound of an explosion and the lead tank bursts into flame. These are real streets in Riga – Lāčplēša iela and the downtown corridor of Tērbatas iela.

Inside Skyral, part of a consortium that won a £2bn MoD contract to help forces game out complex decisions

On a sunny July day in Riga, Latvia, a Nato convoy drives down a street lined with kebab shops and a pharmacy. At a downtown intersection, there is the sound of an explosion and the lead tank bursts into flame.

These are real streets in Riga – Lāčplēša iela and the downtown corridor of Tērbatas iela. The kebab shops and the pharmacy are on them. The pedestrians who flee after the tank explodes and huddle at a distance are modelled after the population of Riga: some old, some young, some friendly to Nato, others less so.

British (ORG) Skyral (LOCATION) Riga (LOCATION) Latvia (LOCATION) Nato (ORG) Lāčplēša (PERSON) Tērbatas (ORG)

Originally published by The Guardian UK Read original →

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‘Fortnite on steroids’: the virtual gaming worlds transformed to train British soldiers

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