Gamers React As EA Sells To Saudi Private Equity Fund, Jared Kushner

On Monday, Electronic Arts (NA) announced it would be going private as a result of a $55 billion private equity deal involving Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund and a firm managed by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Gamers have been vocal in their displeasure with the news and their worry about what it means for the future of gaming. 

HipHopWired reported that the deal is expected to close in Q1 of the 2027 fiscal year. After the sale is finalized, EA’s stock will no longer be listed on the market. The news has spurred reactions from gamers and commentators all across the internet, with the consensus being negative across the board. 

While this is not the PIF’s first entry into the gaming space, it certainly is the biggest. 

Believe it or not, as an avid gamer, I’m only kind of bummed about the news. Yes, the Saudi Arabian government has a long track record of heinous human rights violations, including the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That is objectively terrible, and I’m not downplaying that fact at all. 

If I’m keeping it a buck, I was more upset about the Saudis buying out the fighting game tournament EVO than this news, simply because EA has already run most of their franchises I used to like into the ground.

I can’t tell you the last time they made a “Need For Speed” worth a damn. I grew up a massive fan of the EA-owned studio BioWare, but they’ve unfortunately been on a losing streak with “Mass Effect: Andromeda,” “Anthem,” and last year’s “Dragon Age: The Veilguard.” The upcoming “Battlefield 6” looks promising, but the series’ recent history of launching in an incomplete state still has me skeptical of buying it at launch. I don’t even play “The Sims,” but everyone I know who does has not been happy about the series’s modern direction. 

“Madden” sells well, but that’s largely due to it being the only NFL game on the market. EA Sports’ games already view the player as a personal ATM with their season passes and Ultimate Team modes. The only EA Sports game I’ve purchased in the last five years is “College Football 25” to play with my buds. We haven’t gotten this year’s edition, as it sounds like it’s already following the “Madden” trend of being the same game with the smallest degree of iteration. 

The best thing EA has going for it is Respawn Entertainment’s “Star Wars: Jedi” series and “Apex Legends.” Considering “Star Wars” is a Disney property that EA is simply licensing, I don’t know how much influence the Saudis could really have in the direction of the final “Star Wars: Jedi” game. 

I’m more concerned about the human cost that’s inevitably going to arise from this deal. Be it film or gaming, I’ve yet to see a buyout or merger of this scale that doesn’t result in widespread layoffs. Forbes’ Paul Tassi clocked it in his piece about what the deal could mean. “It is just too early to know what exactly happens with specific EA games and franchises in the wake of this deal, but early signs point to potential cuts, not supercharged, immediate investment,” Tassi wrote.

It’s quite likely that once the deal closes in 2027, we’re going to see EA cancel a spate of games in development and shutter studios it doesn’t feel add value. Especially since the deal will end with EA having $20 billion in debt on its books. 

While the EA Originals program has resulted in unabashed successes like “It Takes Two,” “A Way Out,” and this year’s “Split Fiction,” the numbers aren’t “Madden” status, which could bode ill for one of the only interesting endeavors EA has done in the last decade. Additionally, given the Saudi track record on women and LGBTQ rights, there’s understandable concern internally about what this means for women and LGBTQ employees. 

If there’s a hope on the horizon for gaming at large, it’s the fact that this year has shown the burgeoning strength of indie games. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 made waves earlier this year as a gorgeous, mechanically sound RPG released at an affordable price point. The game was developed by a small team of developers who were frustrated that they couldn’t make the games they wanted to while working for Ubisoft. The game was a critical and commercial success, selling 4.4 million copies this year alone. 

Earlier this month, the long-awaited “Hollow Knight: Silksong” released, and the demand crashed digital storefronts. In less than a month, “Silksong” has sold an estimated 4.2 million copies. Independent film can never truly rival the scale of a big-budget blockbuster, but that’s not the case for gaming. Any small-scale developer can grab a copy of the Unreal Engine and produce games at the same graphical fidelity as their big-budget counterparts. 

So does the EA sale suck? Yes. It’s not good for the state of AAA gaming and will inevitably put way too many talented individuals out of work. But those aforementioned successes show that it’s not the end of the world for gaming. 

I already don’t buy many EA games, and this deal makes me think about boycotting them altogether. There are so many bangers on the market already that don’t involve supporting a regime built on blood money. 

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