A consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) has completed its USD 55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts, ending the publisher's 36-year run as a publicly traded company and delivering the second-largest deal in gaming history after Microsoft's USD 69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard.

The acquisition received final regulatory approval from the European Union last week. PIF is joined in the consortium by Affinity Partners, the private equity firm founded by Jared Kushner, and the technology-focused investment firm Silver Lake. About USD 36 billion came from equity contributions, with the remaining approximately USD 20 billion financed through debt raised against EA itself — a structure that makes the transaction the largest leveraged buyout in corporate history, according to industry analysts.

What changes for EA's studios and teams?

The debt load, the consortium's composition, and recent disclosure from senior Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier point to accelerated cost discipline across a publisher already running lean. Schreier reported on Bluesky that EA plans to cut costs by roughly USD 700 million in total.

"In fact, of this cost-cutting, USD 170 million will come from 'organisational efficiencies,' which effectively if you translate this corporate mumbo-jumbo, means mass layoffs and perhaps even entire studios being shut down and projects being cancelled," Schreier wrote.

That target compounds reductions already in motion: EA laid off about 5% of its workforce in 2024 and eliminated several hundred additional positions earlier in 2026, per industry reporting cited in the deal coverage. Christopher Dring, editor-in-chief of The Game Business, said private equity firms often take an aggressive approach to management, with others expecting the publisher to lean harder into sequels and blockbuster franchises while shelving experimental titles. The Game Business comment slots cleanly into a broader analyst view that ownership change tends to push live-service and evergreen IP toward more intensive monetisation.

The financials underlying the deal

EA reported USD 7.5 billion in revenue for 2025, a backdrop that justified the premium bidders paid. The October 2025 launch of Battlefield 6 sold more than 7 million copies in its first three days, breaking franchise records and reinforcing the value of EA's live-service catalogue. Chief executive Andrew Wilson will remain in charge after the transaction closes, and struck an expansive tone in a post-deal statement: "Together, we'll invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences for the hundreds of millions of players and fans who inspire us every day," he said.

Why PIF pushed this hard

The takeover is Saudi Arabia's boldest move into gaming to date and slots directly into the kingdom's Vision 2030 diversification strategy. PIF, which manages more than USD 900 billion in assets, has been accumulating gaming and esports exposure for years through Savvy Gaming Group, the hosting of major tournaments in Riyadh, and its planned staging of the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2027. The fund's earlier sports play, an 80% stake (GBP 300 million) in Newcastle United in October 2021, established the template: take controlling positions in culturally influential global assets. EA qualifies on that score, with EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA), The Sims, Battlefield and Mass Effect reaching hundreds of millions of players worldwide.

What to watch next

The next concrete data point will be EA's first post-privatisation financial disclosures to debtholders, expected when quarterly covenant filings surface later this year — those reports will reveal whether the USD 170 million organisational line item translates into further studio closures or only headcount reductions. Developers and tools vendors serving EA's live-service stack should also brace for tighter vendor reviews as the new ownership compresses non-essential operating spend.