Electronic Arts has confirmed that every regulatory approval required to complete its sale to a Saudi-led investment consortium has now been secured, clearing the way for the $55 billion deal to close on August 4, 2026 - just over ten months after it was first announced. In a filing tied to the closing timeline, EA said the acquisition remains on track to finish at the close of trading next week, subject only to customary closing conditions.
The buyer is a consortium formed around Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), alongside Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners. Once the deal closes, EA will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the consortium's holding vehicle, Oak-Eagle AcquireCo, through a merger with Oak-Eagle MergerCo. Reported ownership splits put PIF at roughly 93.4% of the combined entity, with Silver Lake holding about 5.5% and Affinity Partners around 1.1%.
The Largest Leveraged Buyout Ever
First announced in September 2025, the transaction is widely described as the largest leveraged buyout in corporate history, eclipsing prior records held by deals in unrelated industries. It will take EA - publicly traded on NASDAQ since March 1990 - private for the first time in 36 years. EA CEO Andrew Wilson is expected to remain in his role after the deal closes, with the company continuing to operate its existing studio lineup, including EA Sports, Maxis, BioWare, and Respawn Entertainment, under the new ownership structure.
The size of the deal, and the debt used to finance it, has made it one of the most closely watched acquisitions in the games industry's history - not just for what it means to EA's balance sheet, but for what it signals about how private capital, including sovereign wealth funds, is increasingly willing to take major publicly listed publishers off the stock market entirely.
Political Pushback and Internal Reassurances
The acquisition has not been without controversy. When it was first announced, several U.S. senators publicly raised national security concerns over a Saudi sovereign wealth fund taking majority control of one of the largest American video game publishers, and some EA employees and union organizers voiced objections tied to Saudi Arabia's human rights record and to Affinity Partners' ties to the Trump family via Jared Kushner. Those objections did not ultimately block the regulatory process, and EA said in its July 30 filing that all necessary approvals - across the jurisdictions where the deal required sign-off - have now been obtained.
Internally, some EA studios have moved to reassure staff and players. Maxis, the studio behind The Sims, published a statement emphasizing that "from day one, our values have been the foundation behind every choice we've made," signaling that the team does not expect its creative direction or inclusivity commitments to shift under the new ownership. EA has not announced any changes to its studios' internal structures as a direct result of the sale, though the company has carried out several rounds of layoffs over the past year - including cuts to customer service, safety, IT, and recruitment staff, and a reduction at Battlefield Studios that came after Battlefield 6's successful launch - moves EA has attributed to broader cost discipline rather than to the pending acquisition specifically.
What Changes for Players
For the vast majority of players, the immediate, day-to-day impact of the ownership change is expected to be minimal. EA's live-service games, subscription offerings, and release slate are expected to continue operating as planned in the near term, and the company has given no indication that going private will affect pricing, existing titles, or announced release dates like EA Sports FC 27 or Battlefield's ongoing content roadmap. The more significant, longer-term question raised by critics is what a private, majority Saudi-owned EA might prioritize once it is no longer accountable to public shareholders or required to disclose quarterly earnings - a level of transparency the company will lose once it delists from NASDAQ.
The deal is part of a broader pattern of Saudi Arabia's PIF investing heavily in gaming as part of the kingdom's Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy, following years of PIF stakes in companies like Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive, and Activision Blizzard (prior to the latter's acquisition by Microsoft). EA is by far the largest and most direct move yet - a full buyout rather than a minority stake - and its closing on August 4 will make it official: one of the industry's largest publishers, home to franchises including EA Sports FC, Madden NFL, Battlefield, The Sims, and Apex Legends, will no longer be a publicly traded company.
