Update: Well, that escalated quickly. Following rumours over the weekend, EA have confirmed that an investor consortium consisting of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners have acquired the Battlefield 6 publisher in an all-cash transaction that values EA at around $55 billion. The consortium will buy 100% of EA and take it private, with the PIF rolling in their existing 9.9% stake in the publisher.
EA have put out a press release featuring various hyperbolic remarks from the likes of EA CEO Andrew Wilson, who will stay on in his position. EA will also continue to be based in Redwood City, California. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027 – in other words, at some point between January and March, once it has been granted the usual regulatory approvals and voted through by EA’s shareholders.
According to the press release, the transaction constitutes “an equity investment of approximately $36 billion” from the PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, plus “$20 billion of debt financing fully and solely committed by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., $18 billion of which is expected to be funded at close”.
So there you have it: one of the oldest North American videogame household names still kicking, going private after three decades as a public corporation. The press release doesn’t, as you’re probably expecting, discuss how this might affect ordinary EA employees and subsidiary developers, or address any concerns they might have about their workplace being co-owned by Saudi Arabia’s investment wing. For more on that, read this morning’s initial reporting on rumours of the acquisition, below.
Original story from 29th September follows:
Battlefield, EA Sports FC and Apex Legends publishers Electronic Arts are holding “advanced talks” to go private with a valuation of $50 billion after 35 years as a public company, according to reports this weekend.
If rumour breathe true, the buyers are a group of investors that include private equity firm Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and Affinity Partners, the Saudi-backed investment firm founded by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The report comes via the Wall Street Journal (paywall) and Reuters, the latter of whom cite “sources familiar with the matter”. They claim that if the deal goes through, it could happen this week.
If the deal does happen, it will mean that BioWare, Criterion Games, DICE, Motive Studio, and Respawn Entertainment are now partly overseen by the investment arm of a state that oppresses women and queer people, executes journalists and imprisons political dissenters. Mass Effect and Dragon Age developers may find the prospect especially unwelcome, given the focus their games place on diverse casts.
Reuters frame the investments as part of Saudi Arabia’s “Vision 2030” strategy to diversify the Kingdom’s heavily oil-reliant economy. The PIF were rumoured to be discussing a $2 billion investment deal via their subsidiary Savvy Games with the infamously acquisition-happy Embracer Group some years ago. These talks reportedly fell through in May 2023, triggering a brutal period of mass layoffs and cancellations.
More recently, the PIF acquired Scopely, US publishers of licensed games like Marvel Strike Force and the current developers of Pokemon Go. They have also funded the creation of a new Assassin’s Creed: Mirage DLC pack set in the historic city of AlUla, prompting internal criticism from Ubisoft developers.
In addition to investing in games publishers, the PIF have poured a lot of money into esports, acquiring companies and hosting tournaments in what has been widely styled a case of ‘sportswashing’ the Kingdom’s abysmal human rights record. Earlier this month, the Public Investment Fund-backed company Qiddiya became co-owner of fighting game tournament Evo. Savvy Games already own ESL FACEIT Group, a merger of two esports organisers, who are organising next year’s much-trumpeted Esports World Cup in Riyadh.
As for the other two investment groups who are allegedly party to the EA deal, Silver Lake are a 1999-founded firm who once owned Skype, and who have also sunk a few doubloons into game engine company Unity and PC manufacturer Dell. Affinity Partners were founded by Kushner in 2021, and have received billions from the PIF, with Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman personally intervening to push the investment through. Kushner is the subject of scrutiny as to whether his Saudi partnerships have influenced his work in the US government.
The rumoured EA buyout would continue the past decade’s consolidation of game developers and publishers in the hands of a select few megacorporations. Microsoft completed their acquisition of Activision-Blizzard last year, adding Call of Duty, Diablo and Candy Crush Saga to the Xbox haggis. The world’s largest videogame publisher, Tencent, have scooped up big outfits like Riot Games, Sumo Group and Funcom, while acquiring majority stakes or sizeable minority shares in the likes of Epic, Krafton and Paradox Interactive. Tencent recently funnelled a huge reservoir of money into Ubisoft as part of the latter’s wider corporate restructuring to focus on Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six.
EA have seen “better-than-expected” revenue growth lately, but they’ve had some significant disappointments in the past year or two, and are currently betting rather a lot on Battlefield 6, with executives allegedly hell-bent on attracting 100 million players. Whatever their current fortunes, it seems plausible that layoffs will follow any buyout, as the new overlords seek to ‘optimise’ their investment.
I’ll wire EA a request for comment.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
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