The gaming industry just witnessed its biggest earthquake yet. Electronic Arts—the publisher behind FIFA (now EA Sports FC), Battlefield, The Sims, and Madden NFL—is being taken private in a record-shattering $55 billion deal. And the money? It's coming from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, along with private equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners.
This isn't just another corporate acquisition. This is the largest leveraged buyout in history. Period. It eclipses the previous record holder (the $48.4 billion TXU Energy buyout in 2007) and represents a fundamental shift in who controls gaming's future.
Shareholders just approved the deal on December 22, 2025. Pending regulatory approval, this thing closes in mid-2026. And when it does, Saudi Arabia's PIF will own 93.4% of EA—effectively all of it.
So what does this mean for your favorite games? For the 35,000+ people who work in EA's studios? For the future of gaming itself?
Let's break down everything you need to know.
The Deal Structure: Follow the Money (and the Debt)
Under the terms of the agreement, the Consortium will acquire 100% of EA, with PIF rolling over its existing 9.9% stake in the Company. EA stockholders will receive $210 per share in cash, representing a 25% premium over EA's pre-deal stock price.
Here's how the $55 billion breaks down:
- $36 billion in equity from PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners
- $20 billion in debt financing from JPMorgan Chase
That $20 billion debt is the part that should terrify you. Because in a leveraged buyout, the acquiring company loads the target with debt that the target then has to pay back. EA didn't ask for this debt. EA wasn't struggling. But now EA has to service $20 billion in loans while also running a business.
And as Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier warned, "the far bigger immediate impact will come from the new private EA being on the hook for $20 billion in debt. That could mean mass layoffs, more aggressive monetization, and other big cost-cutting measures."
For context, EA's total revenue in fiscal 2025 was $7.5 billion. That means the debt is more than two and a half times EA's annual revenue.
Imagine if someone forced you to take out a loan for three times your annual salary, then told you to pay it back while continuing to live your normal life. That's essentially what's happening to EA.
Who's Really Behind This?
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is the heavyweight here. It's the sovereign wealth fund controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler and the guy widely believed to have ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
The PIF manages roughly $1 trillion in assets and is the financial engine behind Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan—an ambitious strategy to diversify the economy beyond oil and establish the kingdom as a global hub for entertainment, sports, and tech.
Silver Lake is a massive private equity firm with over $110 billion under management. They specialize in tech investments and have experience in gaming through their stake in Unity.
Affinity Partners is the investment firm founded by Jared Kushner—Donald Trump's son-in-law and former White House adviser—in 2021. It manages over $5.4 billion.
So you've got the Saudi royal family, Silicon Valley private equity sharks, and Trump's family circle all teaming up to control one of gaming's most influential publishers.
What could possibly go wrong?
Saudi Arabia's Gaming Empire: They Already Own Way More Than You Think
This EA acquisition isn't happening in a vacuum. Saudi Arabia has been systematically buying up the gaming industry for years through its wholly-owned Savvy Games Group.
Here's what they already control:
Fully Owned:
- Scopely ($4.9 billion acquisition in 2023) - Creator of Monopoly Go, which became the fastest game in history to gross $3 billion and is now over $5 billion in revenue
- Niantic's gaming division ($3.5 billion acquisition in 2025) - Including Pokémon Go, which has generated over $8.5 billion in lifetime revenue
- ESL FACEIT Group - The world's largest esports company
- SNK (96% stake) - Publisher of Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters
Major Stakes:
- Nintendo (7.54% stake, one of Nintendo's largest outside shareholders)
- Embracer Group (8% stake)
- Capcom (stake size unclear)
- Nexon (5% stake)
- Take-Two Interactive (minority stake)
- Activision Blizzard (sold stake after Microsoft acquisition)
And now, pending approval, they'll own 93.4% of Electronic Arts.
How Are Saudi-Owned Studios Actually Doing?
The track record is... mixed, but surprisingly decent where it matters.
Scopely (The Success Story):
Since Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games acquired Scopely for $4.9 billion in April 2023, the studio has absolutely crushed it financially.
As of 2024, Scopely ranked as the #2 mobile video game developer in the world, and #1 in the U.S., by revenue. By early 2025, Scopely had crossed $10 billion in lifetime revenue and exceeded one billion downloads across its catalogue.
Monopoly Go alone has been a phenomenon. Launched on April 11, 2023, it amassed more than 150 million installs and passed $5 billion in gross revenue within 2 years. The game spent over $1 billion on marketing and it paid off massively.
Critically, Scopely CEO Javier Ferreira said in an interview at the Game Developers Conference that since the acquisition, Savvy has been hands-off with day-to-day operations.
So far, Scopely represents the ideal scenario: financial backing without creative interference. But there are darker sides to this success story—the game has faced significant criticism for aggressive monetization and potential gambling-like mechanics through its "Tycoon Club" feature.
The Esports Gamble:
Not all of Savvy's investments have been as immediately lucrative. An early focus on esports has raised questions as the industry struggles to attract audiences and sponsors. The company put over $1.5 billion into acquisitions to form ESL Faceit Group.
Saudi Arabia hosted the inaugural Esports World Cup in 2024 with a record-breaking $60-$70 million prize pool, the largest in esports history. But esports as an industry continues to struggle with profitability and viewership, so this investment looks more like a prestige play than a smart financial bet.
The Embracer Disaster That Wasn't:
A $2 billion deal between Savvy and Embracer fell through at the last minute, triggering a catastrophic chain reaction. Embracer subsequently laid off thousands, closed multiple studios including Volition (Saints Row) and Piranha Bytes (Gothic), and cancelled numerous projects.
Savvy still holds its 8% stake in Embracer, but the relationship highlights the risks of depending on Saudi capital.
The $20 Billion Debt Problem: Why Layoffs Are Virtually Guaranteed
Let's be brutally honest about what happens when you saddle a company with massive debt in a leveraged buyout.
"The reality is that in order to service debt of this magnitude, resources need to be freed up elsewhere," analyst Michael Futter explained following the EA buyout announcement. Futter adds "that likely means layoffs, studio closures, and [selling] of IP."
EA already has a history of cuts:
- February 2024: 670 positions eliminated across marketing, live services, and R&D
- January 2025: Over 100 staff members laid off at BioWare, shrinking the Mass Effect and Dragon Age studio to fewer than 100 employees
Between 2023 and 2025, EA has cut approximately 1,900 jobs.
And that was BEFORE the $20 billion debt bomb landed on their balance sheet.
The AI Wild Card:
Adding fuel to the fire, a paywalled Financial Times report noted that the investor group is betting that AI-based cost cuts will significantly boost EA's profits in coming years.
Translation: they're planning to replace people with AI.
We've already seen what happens when gaming companies embrace AI. When Activision Blizzard approved internal use of generative AI platforms like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion for concept art in 2023, mass layoffs immediately followed. "A lot of 2D artists were laid off," reported an anonymous Activision artist. "The department was slashed."
Concept artists, writers, QA testers, customer support—all of these roles are in the crosshairs.
Which Studios Are Most At Risk?
Former Dragon Age and Anthem producer Mark Darrah warned that EA may now be "looking to sell off some of its biggest IPs and studios in order to service that debt." He explained that "It's incredibly unlikely that EA stays exactly as it currently is in a private structure, especially carrying $20 billion worth of debt."
The most vulnerable:
- BioWare - Already gutted to under 100 people, working on Mass Effect 5. The studio represents exactly the kind of "underperforming" asset private equity eliminates.
- Respawn Entertainment - Creators of Apex Legends and Titanfall, but if Apex player numbers decline, they're exposed.
- DICE - The Battlefield studio has faced retention issues with recent releases.
- Smaller creative studios working on experimental or non-sports titles
The safest:
- EA Sports divisions (Madden, FC, College Football) - These print money annually with minimal risk
- The Sims team - Another reliable cash cow
What Does "Going Private" Actually Mean?
When EA was a public company, it had to:
- Report earnings quarterly
- Answer to shareholders demanding short-term profits
- Maintain transparency about operations
- Deal with stock market pressure
Going private removes all of that. In theory, this means EA can:
- Take more creative risks without Wall Street breathing down their necks
- Invest in long-term projects without quarterly profit pressure
- Make unpopular decisions without immediate stock price consequences
Sounds great, right?
Here's the catch: EA now answers to a small consortium of owners with very specific interests. Professor Joost van Dreunen told Game Developer that means potential layoffs and, perhaps, the sale of "dormant IP" like Command & Conquer.
He added: "The $55 billion buyout saddles EA with debt that only makes sense through new revenue streams—likely sports betting and integrated media ventures. Going private removes Wall Street's quarterly pressure, allowing for more creative freedom. However, restructuring will follow. EA will likely split into sports and non-sports divisions, with some operations potentially relocated to Saudi Arabia."
Relocating operations to Saudi Arabia? That's... a whole other conversation.
The Saudi Financial Distress Problem: Is This Deal Even Safe?
Here's something that should worry both EA employees and gamers: Saudi Arabia's PIF might be running out of money.
According to the New York Times, the PIF is restricting operations as numerous projects it has invested in are under "financial distress."
Troubled Investments Include:
- Neom/The Line: A futuristic glass-walled city that was supposed to be 105 miles long but has been massively scaled back. The cost of Neom as a whole has been estimated to be anywhere between $500 billion and $1.5 trillion. Recent reports suggest costs could reach $8.8 trillion.
- A coffee chain with just one shop
- A cruise line with one lonely ship
- An electric vehicle startup that hasn't delivered a single car after three years
While a spokesman for the PIF said the fund is still "very liquid by regional standards" with $60 billion in cash, six other people told the NYT that the fund's representatives have communicated to international investors that it is virtually unable to allocate any additional money "for the foreseeable future."
While PIF's top-line revenues surged 25 percent to SR413 billion, net profit fell sharply, down 60 percent to SR26 billion, as rising interest rates, impairments, and project delays eroded returns.
So Saudi Arabia's investment fund:
- Just spent $36 billion (in equity) on EA
- Is running low on liquid cash
- Needs EA to service $20 billion in debt
- Has multiple other projects hemorrhaging money
This is the Embracer situation all over again, but way bigger and scarier.
What Happens to EA's Games?
EA CEO Andrew Wilson insists the company's values will "remain unchanged" and operations will stay "business as usual" initially. But let's look at what's likely:
Short-Term (2026-2027):
- Leadership stays the same (Andrew Wilson remains CEO)
- No immediate massive layoffs... but "restructuring" begins
- Focus intensifies on the most profitable franchises
- Sports titles (FC, Madden, College Football) get even more investment
- Live service games get priority
Medium-Term (2027-2028):
- EA will likely split into sports and non-sports divisions
- Smaller studios face closure or sale
- Dormant IPs get sold off (Command & Conquer, Dead Space, older franchises)
- AI integration increases across development
- More aggressive monetization in all games
- Experimental single-player games become rarer
Long-Term (2028+):
- EA becomes primarily a sports gaming company with a handful of live service titles
- Creative risk-taking becomes virtually non-existent
- BioWare-style narrative RPGs either disappear or get outsourced
- Everything gets optimized for maximum profit extraction
The Geopolitical Question
There's also the elephant in the room: creative content.
Saudi Arabia has strict laws around representation, particularly regarding LGBTQ+ themes. EA games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect have featured diverse characters and relationships prominently.
Former Dragon Age director says it's "hard to imagine" BioWare pivoting from "very progressive messaging to having the reverse" following EA's $55 billion buyout, and public perception not being "apocalyptically bad" if it did.
Will future EA games be forced to self-censor to avoid conflicts with Saudi values? Will Middle Eastern releases get different versions? Will developers be discouraged from including certain themes?
We don't know yet. But it's a legitimate concern.
The Pros: Is There ANY Good News Here?
Let's be fair—this isn't all doom and gloom. There are potential upsides:
1. Long-Term Investment Horizon
"Gaming is the new oil," van Dreunen said. "Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is leveraging it to purchase global cultural relevance while diversifying beyond petroleum. This LBO diverges from the traditional playbook: instead of cutting costs to service debt, Saudi Arabia and other investors are adding capital to acquire cultural legitimacy. They're likely indifferent to short-term margins, viewing EA as a long-term anchor for broader entertainment ambitions."
If the Saudis truly treat EA as a long-term cultural investment rather than a quick flip, that could actually benefit game development. No quarterly earnings pressure means teams could get more time to polish games.
2. Massive Capital Resources
PIF has nearly $1 trillion in assets. If even a fraction of that flows into game development budgets, we could see bigger, more ambitious projects. The Scopely example shows they're willing to spend heavily on marketing and development.
3. Cross-Platform and Media Integration
PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners bring deep sector experience, committed capital, and global portfolios with networks across gaming, entertainment, and sports that offer unique possibilities for EA to blend physical and digital experiences, enhance fan engagement, and create new growth opportunities.
EA Sports titles could integrate with Saudi Arabia's sports investments (they're hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup). Live events, esports tournaments with massive prize pools, physical gaming venues—all possibilities.
4. Competitive Pressure
If EA has nearly unlimited resources, it might finally be able to compete more effectively with Activision (now owned by Microsoft) and other major publishers.
The Cons: Why This Could Be a Disaster
1. The Debt
Cannot emphasize this enough: $20 billion in debt on a company making $7.5 billion annually is insane. This will drive every decision for years.
2. Track Record of Leveraged Buyouts
The retailer Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. and Canada in 2017 because any cash it did make was used to pay off debt. Joann Fabrics suffered a similar fate. While some LBOs like Dell and Hilton succeeded, the gaming industry has no comparable examples at this scale.
3. Saudi Arabia's Financial Instability
PIF is cutting back investments, drowning in failed megaprojects, and facing liquidity constraints. What happens if they need cash and EA isn't generating enough to both service debt AND fund ambitious new projects?
4. Creative Control Questions
Who decides what games get made? What themes are allowed? Which studios survive? Private ownership means fewer checks and balances.
5. The Human Cost
Thousands of jobs are likely at risk. Entire studios could close. The gaming industry has already lost 35,000+ jobs since 2022—this could accelerate that devastation.
How Does This Compare to Microsoft's Activision Acquisition?
Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion—still the biggest gaming acquisition ever in terms of price. But there are key differences:
Microsoft-Activision:
- Microsoft paid cash from its own balance sheet
- No debt loaded onto Activision
- Microsoft has $100+ billion in cash reserves
- Clear strategic fit (Game Pass, Xbox ecosystem)
- Regulatory scrutiny but eventually approved
PIF-EA:
- Leveraged buyout with $20 billion debt ON EA
- PIF facing financial constraints
- Less clear strategic fit beyond "cultural influence"
- Geopolitical concerns around Saudi ownership
- Biggest LBO in history, unprecedented scale
The Microsoft deal was controversial but financially sound. The EA deal is financially precarious but politically explosive.
What Can Gamers Actually Do?
Realistically? Not much to stop the deal—it's already approved by shareholders and will likely clear regulatory hurdles given Trump administration ties to Affinity Partners.
But you can:
1. Speak Up
Developers and content creators have started speaking out. Your voice adds to that pressure. Social media campaigns, petitions, and public criticism at least create accountability.
2. Vote With Your Wallet
If future EA games implement predatory monetization or abandon creative risks, don't buy them. Revenue is the only language corporations understand.
3. Support Alternative Studios
The indie and AA game space is thriving. Support studios making the kinds of games you want to see.
4. Stay Informed
Watch what happens at EA over the next 1-2 years. Are they cutting jobs? Closing studios? Changing content? Hold them accountable.
5. Demand Transparency
EA going private means less transparency, but journalists and analysts can still investigate and report. Follow coverage from outlets like Bloomberg, Game Developer, PC Gamer, and others tracking this story.
The Bigger Picture: What This Means for Gaming
This acquisition is part of a much larger trend: the consolidation of the gaming industry under massive corporations and state actors.
Other Major Acquisitions:
- Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard ($68.7B)
- Microsoft buying Bethesda/ZeniMax ($7.5B)
- Take-Two buying Zynga ($12.7B)
- Sony expanding with Bungie ($3.6B)
Add Saudi Arabia's aggressive gaming expansion, and we're looking at an industry increasingly controlled by a handful of players.
The Concern:
When a few entities control most of gaming, creativity suffers. Risk-taking decreases. Innovation slows. Everything gets optimized for profit extraction rather than player experience.
We're already seeing:
- More live service games
- More microtransactions and battle passes
- Fewer experimental single-player games
- More sequels, less originality
- Higher development costs forcing conservative decisions
The EA acquisition accelerates all of these trends.
The Saudi Gaming Strategy:
PIF's goal is to connect the gaming industry like never before and establish a centralized hub for game developers, marketers, distributors, hardware manufacturers and IP.
They want Saudi Arabia to become the global gaming capital by 2030. The EA acquisition—giving them control over FIFA/FC, Madden, Battlefield, Apex Legends, The Sims—is a cornerstone of that strategy.
Combined with their ownership of Pokémon Go (via Scopely/Niantic), Monopoly Go, ESL FACEIT Group, and stakes in Nintendo, Capcom, Nexon, and others, Saudi Arabia now has frightening influence over what games get made and how.
Final Thoughts: Should You Be Worried?
Yes. Absolutely.
The $20 billion debt is a ticking time bomb. "$20,000,000,000 of debt financing is a shockingly large number to have to service," as games market analyst Mat Piscatella says, "while also transitioning from a public to private organization and all the implications that has on the people that work in it."
Layoffs are virtually inevitable. Studio closures are likely. Creative freedom will be constrained by financial pressure. And Saudi Arabia's influence over one of gaming's biggest publishers raises legitimate questions about content, labor rights, and geopolitical manipulation.
But there's a slim chance this works out.
If PIF treats EA as a genuine long-term cultural investment—if they give studios time and resources, if they don't force massive cuts, if they allow creative freedom—this could actually lead to better games freed from quarterly earnings pressure.
The Scopely example shows that's possible. They've remained operationally independent and thrived financially.
The difference is Scopely didn't come loaded with $20 billion in debt.
The reality is we're entering uncharted territory.
The largest leveraged buyout in history is happening to a major gaming publisher, funded by a sovereign wealth fund facing financial distress, at a time when the gaming industry is already struggling with mass layoffs and consolidation.
It's a high-stakes gamble with the livelihoods of thousands of developers and the future of beloved franchises hanging in the balance.
All we can do now is watch, document, and hold EA's new owners accountable for what comes next.
Because gaming is getting expensive, consolidation is accelerating, and the Saudi royal family just bought a massive seat at the table.
Welcome to the new reality of AAA gaming. It's wealthier, more consolidated, and way more complicated than it used to be.