Back in late September 2025, EA agreed to a $55 leveraged buyout with a Saudi consortium. While there virtually weren’t any doubts that EA and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) would finalize this deal, it’s all about being confirmed today. According to Bloomberg, Shareholders from EA have approved the acquisition, and the deal will now move on to regulatory approval.
For context, this is the biggest take-private investment ever, not just in the gaming industry, but in general. The deal is expected to close by June 30th, 2026, right at the start of EA’s first quarter of fiscal year 2027.
Here’s what EA CEO Andrew Wilson has to say about it:
“Together with our partners, we will create transformative experiences to inspire generations to come. I am more energised than ever about the future we are building.”
A Chaotic Year For Gaming
You could argue that this was the biggest gaming news of 2025. It completely came out of left field, as no one would have predicted that this is the route EA would take in 2025. Some people may look at it as a positive, but from what we’ve seen from our own forums and from wider social media, people are highly skeptical of what EA will become.
Other than this, we had the whole tariff situation earlier in the year, Apple losing a massive antitrust case, Nintendo lawsuits (nothing new there), massive layoffs at Xbox, and the whole RAM shortage situation. Sports games, like EA FC 26 and NBA 2K26, have been great this year. Games in general have been great. But the news surrounding it has been as chaotic and controversial as it gets.
Circling back to the EA buyout, a filing shows that PIF will have quite a bit of control over EA. There’s a high chance that EA will focus on more efficient and aggressive monetization, AI development practices, and an even greater focus on engagement and in-game spending. It doesn’t matter what we as players think of that; if all these decisions translate to high ROI for this massive sale, that’s the route you can expect.
Of course, all this skepticism could be misplaced, as there’s always the chance that EA might properly bring back IPs like Need for Speed and do them justice. They don’t need to worry about quarterly earnings reports anymore, which means there is a chance that player experience gets more priority. Again, time will tell.
