With Saudi Arabia basically owning EA now. Will there be any significant changes that comes along with this? Changes to any EA Games that impacts gameplay, micro transactions, privacy titles,!names or origins? As battlefield players for about 15 years... im sure we all wonder how things will go now so is there a source where we can go read to educate ourselves on what may be at hand? Or will everything stay the way it is?
Sale hasn't gone through yet.
And as for the biggest change... It's a leveraged purchase so EA will be saddled with $20 billion in debt. The biggest change you can expect is lowered costs - so more AI slop - and a bigger push to monetize. Fun times!
@AlpiB EU allready approved the deal U.S will likely follow shortlly i cant say for China or other big markets
What exactly do saudi arabia want to do with EA? Out of all the investments the PIF can make.... why EA? A gaming company?
Im aware of the $20B debt. But what does this mean for the employees? And the future EA titles? If EA will only profit 5% from earnings what does this mean for us who play nothing but EA Games? Will there be another Battlefield? Issues with the rest of the seasons for Battlefield 6? Etc. This is pimping at its finest
A survey asked if Saudi ownership of EA is a major concern for gamers 10% said Yes and 90% said, 'La mushkila ‘ala al-itlaq. haha.
This $55 billion EA buyouts, biggest threat to the games we play isn't ideological censorship it is an issue, just not the main one it’s the predatory corporate debt they are dumping on the company.
The Debt vs. Profit Nightmare: The buyers are dumping $20 billion in debt onto EA’s balance sheet to finance the purchase. Last year (FY25), EA only made $1.12 billion in actual profit.
The Interest Rates: That $20 billion is rated as a high-risk "junk" loan. Financial analysts expect a 7% to 8% interest rate, meaning EA will owe $1.4 to $1.6 billion a year just in interest payments.
The Result: The interest alone completely wipes out EA's current annual profit margin. To survive, they will be forced to hyper-monetize live-service games (EA Sports FC, Apex), cancel "risky" single-player games, and likely sell off or close studios (like BioWare) just to scrape together enough cash to pay the bank.
Beyond the finances, the consortium buying them out brings a massive amount of ethical and legal baggage:
Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners: Currently under a US Senate investigation over the $2 billion they received from the Saudi PIF, with lawmakers raising alarms about foreign influence-buying and massive ethical conflicts.
Saudi Arabia’s PIF (Majority Owner): Tied to severe human rights abuses, including the Khashoggi assassination, forced evictions for giga-projects, and the hostile confiscation of private assets.
I'm going to delete my account as soon as BF6 is over; I just have this feeling that I'm not protected. I absolutely don't want anything to do with it.
iLuckyBrad thanks so much for that... sounds like they better get all of their games going in the right direction because this looks like the end of EA. With all of the issues they have with their games and how long it takes them to fix a single thing they wont see much profit..
What exactly do saudi arabia want to do with EA? Out of all the investments the PIF can make.... why EA? A gaming company?
Make money off of Fifa and other sports games, I imagine.
