Electronic Arts’ pending $55 billion buyout is already one of the most talked-about deals in gaming history. And now, a new report suggests just how concentrated ownership can become if the acquisition goes through. According to a Wall Street Journal summary of documents filed with a Brazilian antitrust regulator, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is positioned to hold 93.4% of EA once the deal closes, with Silver Lake Partners taking 5.5% and Jared Kushner-run Affinity Partners holding the remaining 1.1% (h/t LA Times).
The filing underscores what many analysts already suspected: this isn’t so much a traditional private equity move as much as it is a transformational shift that would place one of the world’s most influential publishers — the company behind Madden, EA FC, The Sims, Battlefield, and numerous other titles — almost entirely under the control of a foreign sovereign wealth fund.
Predictably, EA, Silver Lake, and Affinity declined to comment on the news to the LA Times, but the implications for players, sports licensing partners, and the broader industry are substantial. If approved by regulators and shareholders later this month, EA would go private sometime in 2026, ending its decades-long run as a publicly traded powerhouse and potentially reshaping how its sports portfolio is funded, produced, and evaluated.
Optimism Or Dread For Sports Gamers?
For sports gamers in particular, the deal raises several questions. PIF already owns stakes in numerous esports and entertainment ventures and has pushed aggressively into global sports — such as the formation of LIV Golf and purchase of Newcastle United — with a strategy centered on long-term brand control and aggressive spending. A privately held EA with virtually unlimited capital could accelerate development across annual sports titles, expand studio capacity, and invest more heavily into tech like AI animation pipelines or cloud-first platforms (for better or worse).
On the other hand, the transition can also lead to restructuring, shifts in creative direction, or new monetization approaches, depending on how the new ownership prioritizes return on investment. With EA’s revenues “stagnating” between $7.4 billion and $7.6 billion in each of the last three fiscal quarters, the buyout appears framed as a reset, both financially and strategically. I personally don’t see anything wrong with those returns, but business is gonna business.
What’s certain is that this deal will set the tone for how the next decade of AAA sports gaming is funded and controlled. With consolidation reshaping the industry at every level, EA’s move into private hands marks a historic turning point, and one with global implications far beyond gaming.
