Today, as part of an updated FAQ aimed at workers (spotted by Game File), EA said that its impending $55 billion sale to a consortium that includes Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will not come at the cost of creative control. If you take EA at its word, I have a bridge to sell you.
The FAQ includes a number of tersely worded sentiments intended to reassure.
"We will continue to be guided by our cultural values of creativity, pioneering, passion, determination, learning, and teamwork," it says to counter concerns around a change in culture. "EA will maintain creative control and our track record of creative freedom and player-first values will remain intact."
Another eyebrow raiser: no layoffs following a major acquisition. From a company that already laid off hundreds of employees across multiple rounds earlier this year in the name of “accelerated growth.” Following a buyout that will saddle the company with $20 billion in debt. Sure!
"There will be no immediate changes to your job, team, or daily work, as a result of this transaction," reads the response to a question about layoffs. "Our focus is on driving innovation, and expanding our global reach, all of which require world class teams, who are excited to shape the future of entertainment."
The driving message underlying the FAQ is more of the same – literally, with EA saying that management, HQ, AI usage, and other staples will remain exactly as they are now.
That would be great if big companies had given us any reason to believe them in circumstances like this, ever. Bungie leadership told employees that Sony’s purchase of the studio wouldn’t result in layoffs or restructuring back in 2022. Look at Bungie now: It’s a husk of itself, dragging new Destiny expansions across the finish line while betting big on Marathon, a game whose lunch may have just been preemptively devoured by Arc Raiders.
Or consider everything Microsoft said in its attempts to avert the regulatory Eye Of Sauron while its purchase of Activision Blizzard was still pending. The deal will be super worker-friendly? Uhhh. Game Pass prices won’t skyrocket? Hmmm.
The latter comparison is especially apt when taken alongside the growing chorus of voices calling for greater regulatory scrutiny of the EA deal. In the immediate aftermath (dot site) of the sale’s announcement, US senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal sent letters to US Treasury Secretary and Committee Of Foreign Investment chair Scott Bessent and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson warning of risks that include "surveillance of Americans, covert Saudi propaganda, and selective retaliation and censorship of persons disfavored by the Saudi government."
Workers at EA, in collaboration with CWA’s direct-join video game union, have also voiced extreme suspicion of the deal, saying in a statement last month that they and theirs stand to be “jeopardized as a result of this deal” despite the fact that they were “not represented at all when this buyout was negotiated or discussed.”
“We are calling on regulators and elected officials to scrutinize this deal and ensure that any path forward protects jobs, preserves creative freedom, and keeps decision-making accountable to the workers who make EA successful,” the EA workers wrote.
Most recently, CWA president Claude Cummings Jr sent formal letters to the Federal Trade Commission and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States calling for a comprehensive review of the deal.
“This deal is not about innovation or growth for the U.S. economy – it’s about handing control to a small group of powerful investors and putting thousands of jobs and sensitive consumer data at risk,” said Cummings Jr in a statement of his own. “I’m calling on CFIUS Chair Scott Bessent and FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson to scrutinize this deal carefully and to ensure that this deal protects American workers, consumers, and the future of the video game industry.”
Of course, Trump’s FTC is different from Biden’s FTC, which, under now-former-commissioner Lina Khan, blocked a record number of mergers in an attempt to stem the tide of monopoly power in the US. On top of that, it is impossible to ignore the fact that another member of the consortium purchasing EA is Affinity Partners, an investment firm formed by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. Trump has also done ample business in Saudi Arabia since he won the 2024 presidential election. Now, with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman set to visit the White House later this month – seemingly to discuss a nuclear deal and a defense pact – the odds seemed stacked against those who’d rather not see the EA sale sail right on through.
Elsewhere in games, the International Olympic Committee recently backed out of a deal with the Saudi government to host and operate the Esports Olympic Games. According to a report from The Esports Advocate, the two sides failed see eye-to-eye on the creation of an overseeing federation after the Saudi government concluded that existing options were insufficient. What the Saudi government proposed instead would've been under its control in perpetuity, an arrangement the IOC found untenable.
The report concludes with the following note:
"Further, the Saudi contingent pushed back on being forced to put women in leadership positions and adhering to rules on who (what nations) it could or could not allow to participate."
