EA is about to go private as part of a $55 billion deal, and while fans are certainly concerned about what this means for their favorite franchises – just ask the BioWare hopefuls still awaiting Mass Effect 5 – the much more pressing issue is what this means for the company's employees. A handful have spoken up since the news broke, and the vibes out there aren't looking great.
The EA buyout is led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner's investment firm Affinity Partners. They're fronting about two-thirds of the purchase price, with $20 billion of the leveraged buyout being absorbed as debt on EA's books. We don't know what EA will look like once the deal closes – which is expected to happen in Q1 of the company's 2027 financial year – but some key fears have arisen about what might happen.
