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EA Private Acquisition Deal Discussion

VierGraustufen

VierGraustufen

Conference
Joined
22 August 2007
Location
Bern
Team
FC Bern 1894
Source: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/electronic-arts-nears-roughly-50-184634736.html

According to rumours, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund wants to buy EA. So let me get straight to my theory:

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund gets everything in competitive sports and will buy EA. After buying EA, they will have a quick chat with their friend and FIFA President Infantino and buy the FIFA licence.

That way, they won't need to programme a new game, and Infantino will laugh at EA for not wanting to pay him licence fees.

I invite you to guess the new name of the game:
Based on the already known name, it will be called FIFA 27 or EA FIFA FC 27.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
el niche said:
https://apnews.com/article/ea-elect...ver-lake-pif-d17dc7dd3412a990d2c0a6758aaa6900

EA going private, bought by Saudi Arabia wealth fund and Donald Trump’s son-in-law private equity

Maybe the dear leader will be a FUT card?
Click to expand...
Well, worse than that, there is no way to leave the stock market and that's good because you don't have to keep doing what investors keep demanding in your ears, this sale is the best news! These sovereign wealth funds don't want to "recover yesterday" or what they invested today.
They always envision the long term, to generate income for the future and accumulate wealth for future development.
I believe EA's governance will change slightly for the better.
I believe this will force EA and ensure it is a solid and reliable company so that it doesn't lose value. I think the days of doing anything stupid for a quick profit are numbered.
 
Last edited:
el niche said:
https://apnews.com/article/ea-elect...ver-lake-pif-d17dc7dd3412a990d2c0a6758aaa6900

EA going private, bought by Saudi Arabia wealth fund and Donald Trump’s son-in-law private equity

Maybe the dear leader will be a FUT card?
Click to expand...
Ezequiel Vanzin said:
Well, worse than that, there is no way to leave the stock market and that's good because you don't have to keep doing what investors keep demanding in your ears, this sale is the best news! These sovereign wealth funds don't want to "recover yesterday" or what they invested today.
They always envision the long term, to generate income for the future and accumulate wealth for future development.
I believe EA's governance will change slightly for the better.
I believe this will force EA and ensure it is a solid and reliable company so that it doesn't lose value. I think the days of doing anything stupid for a quick profit are numbered.
Click to expand...
I doubt it will have any major impact on FC - in the short-term at least - but I did find this BBC News article about the sale (once it was confirmed) interesting, particularly this:

---

The firms buying EA will contribute approximately $36bn, with the remaining amount [roughly $20bn] being financed by loans.

"EA has been open to a potential buyer to help level up for a while," industry expert Christopher Dring told the BBC. "But an acquisition from private equity is a surprise and there's a lot of industry anxiety around this deal."

He said there were concerns that the deal would result in $20bn of debt - which would need to be paid back.

"The revenue generated by big games like EA Sports FC, Madden and Battlefield 6 will be needed to service this debt, which may impact EA's ability to invest in new games," he said. "Other industry concerns are whether this might lead to further cuts at EA, especially if there's pressure from the private companies to deliver stronger cash flow, again to serve that debt."
 
Takeover is real

https://www.reuters.com/business/me...billion-deal-with-pif-silver-lake-2025-09-29/

  • Saudi Arabia's PIF, Kushner's Affinity Partners, Silver Lake lead buyout
  • EA shareholders to receive $210 per share, 25% premium
  • Benchmark analysts argue EA's intrinsic value exceeds offer price
Sept 29 (Reuters) - Videogame developer Electronic Arts (EA.O), opens new tab has agreed to sell itself to a group of private investors in a deal that values the maker of "Battlefield" and "Madden NFL" at $55 billion, making it the largest leveraged buyout in history.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners and private equity firm Silver Lake came together to buy the popular videogame maker. They are financing it with a combination of $36 billion in cash along with equity already held by PIF as well as $20 billion in debt financed by JPMorgan, the company said Monday.
 
Chris Davies said:
I doubt it will have any major impact on FC - in the short-term at least - but I did find this BBC News article about the sale (once it was confirmed) interesting, particularly this:

---

The firms buying EA will contribute approximately $36bn, with the remaining amount [roughly $20bn] being financed by loans.

"EA has been open to a potential buyer to help level up for a while," industry expert Christopher Dring told the BBC. "But an acquisition from private equity is a surprise and there's a lot of industry anxiety around this deal."

He said there were concerns that the deal would result in $20bn of debt - which would need to be paid back.

"The revenue generated by big games like EA Sports FC, Madden and Battlefield 6 will be needed to service this debt, which may impact EA's ability to invest in new games," he said. "Other industry concerns are whether this might lead to further cuts at EA, especially if there's pressure from the private companies to deliver stronger cash flow, again to serve that debt."
Click to expand...
The only potential upside I can see is that the Saudis absolutely do not need any money and maybe the industry standard of milking consumers for everything they can might not be as important to them.

It's a long shot but equally most other things they've taken over have been treated this way. Boxing, eSports and Football have all had unholy amounts of money chucked at them in the name of improving whatever it is they've invested in., seemingly with no regard for cost implications.

*this is a non-political post and just talking strictly about the impact, not the reasons or morality :)
 
Chris Davies said:
I doubt it will have any major impact on FC - in the short-term at least - but I did find this BBC News article about the sale (once it was confirmed) interesting, particularly this:

---

The firms buying EA will contribute approximately $36bn, with the remaining amount [roughly $20bn] being financed by loans.

"EA has been open to a potential buyer to help level up for a while," industry expert Christopher Dring told the BBC. "But an acquisition from private equity is a surprise and there's a lot of industry anxiety around this deal."

He said there were concerns that the deal would result in $20bn of debt - which would need to be paid back.

"The revenue generated by big games like EA Sports FC, Madden and Battlefield 6 will be needed to service this debt, which may impact EA's ability to invest in new games," he said. "Other industry concerns are whether this might lead to further cuts at EA, especially if there's pressure from the private companies to deliver stronger cash flow, again to serve that debt."
Click to expand...

I agree this probably won't impact the product. However, these buyouts usually come with some sort of restructuring and change in leadership. To be honest I don't know what the end game is here. EA revenue has been stagnant even with EA usually on top sold lists. So no clue what's in store and if the trickle down will affect the final product...
 
Ezequiel Vanzin said:
Well, worse than that, there is no way to leave the stock market and that's good because you don't have to keep doing what investors keep demanding in your ears, this sale is the best news! These sovereign wealth funds don't want to "recover yesterday" or what they invested today.
They always envision the long term, to generate income for the future and accumulate wealth for future development.
I believe EA's governance will change slightly for the better.
I believe this will force EA and ensure it is a solid and reliable company so that it doesn't lose value. I think the days of doing anything stupid for a quick profit are numbered.
Click to expand...

I'm not too sure about that. These private investors, especially with the leveraged buyout the size of this one probably want to get in and get out fast for profit. They are coming in with a lot of debt in their balance sheet, in my mind this means they will come in, restructure and cut costs in order to create value and sell it for profit in a few years. I don't think they are thinking about long term value (as I said EA revenue has been growing just 2% year over year).

Then again, who knows, maybe they will invest in games and make them better... (lol). Don't forget, men in suits sold it to other men in suits, prob same BS, different pile.

EDIT : sorry for the double post, couldn't get the multiquote to work
 
Merged all chat in the FC26 thread regarding this deal into this one.

Great (but scary) article from Eurogamer here:
EA Private Acquisition Deal Expected To Go Smoothly Says Report (As What Regulator Is Going To Say No To The President's Son-In-Law?)

In a nutshell, some experts are saying this whole deal is a huge bet on utilising AI to cut costs... (God help us all.)

They suggest the $20bn debt this acquisition will create (see this post further up the page) is going to be paid for by using AI to become more efficient, with CEO Andrew Wilson stating that AI will make "doing what we do today faster, cheaper, and at a higher quality". The words "AI" and "high quality" don't belong in the same sentence...
 
Chris Davies said:
The words "AI" and "high quality" don't belong in the same sentence...
Click to expand...
That was my first thought 🤦🏾

We've already seen the debacle of "machine learning" in FC's animations & the way it's regressed compared to the mocap & inverse kinetics of 10 years prior when this was all designed by talented human beings.

Maybe I'm wrong & in the future AI will be frighteningly & dangerously realistic & it'll be impossible to point out it's flaws like we can now but as it stands, it's no substitute for human creativity.
 
Marlon Anthony said:
That was my first thought 🤦🏾

We've already seen the debacle of "machine learning" in FC's animations & the way it's regressed compared to the mocap & inverse kinetics of 10 years prior when this was all designed by talented human beings.

Maybe I'm wrong & in the future AI will be frighteningly & dangerously realistic & it'll be impossible to point out it's flaws like we can now but as it stands, it's no substitute for human creativity.
Click to expand...
Don't ask AI to do any complicated maths for you. It's beyond dumb and extremely stubborn. Actually quite funny to argue with.
 
Paul-v said:
Don't ask AI to do any complicated maths for you. It's beyond dumb and extremely stubborn. Actually quite funny to argue with.
Click to expand...

I am terrified when the AI bubble pops. The economy will nose dive. The lack of CEOs over estimating the kind of task AI is capable of doing is insane. A large language model is not going to be able to do all the complex physics and math calculation a game like fifa requires.
 
Imagine we’ll see the FIFA license back within a couple of years with all the Saudi investment.
 
@Gunslinger
exactly what i wrote in my first post in this topic :

According to rumours, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund wants to buy EA. So let me get straight to my theory:

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund gets everything in competitive sports and will buy EA. After buying EA, they will have a quick chat with their friend and FIFA President Infantino and buy the FIFA licence.

That way, they won't need to programme a new game, and Infantino will laugh at EA for not wanting to pay him licence fees.
 
Gunslinger said:
Imagine we’ll see the FIFA license back within a couple of years with all the Saudi investment.
Click to expand...
I think this will be the death of anything like proper football, regardless of license. This will be 100% about recouping investment and we know where the money trail is in EAFC.

Dark days indeed
 
I'm struggling with myself...

A while ago, I think I read somewhere that Barca might be back with EA in EA FC 27 with Spotify Camp Nou.
That's because the contract with Konami is ending next year.
That caught my attention and made me happy, and I was almost ready to buy the next EA FC 27, because of the authentic gameplay.

Yes, and then there's the upcoming release of Battlefield 6.
I had played both betas and, although what was on offer was rather mixed,
the problems from the beta have apparently been fixed.
So here, too, I might be interested in buying it,
or at least wanting to.

To get back to the beginning of my post,
I'm struggling with myself over whether I want to spend another penny on EA games.
I just can't reconcile it with my conscience.

I'm not going to mention the reasons here, because otherwise it would certainly go in a direction that is not desirable to talk about here.
As a topic, that is.
Which is too bad, but I can also understand why not.

Well, I think there has been better news in the past when it comes to video/computer games.

:TD:
 
I'm honestly kind of indifferent, I don't think with the current ownership the game is going in any meaningful direction anyway in the near future so it's not like I feel I'm losing something valuable or even the promise of it in the years to come. I mean, what could go so bad compared to the current situation? Gameplay even crazier and detached from reality? Looking at the current state of things, won't make much of a difference to me. No career and all-in on FUT? Again, I've not had a good career on a current year title since years.. not gonna waste a single tear if that happens (although I'm sorry for people who still enjoy it and I don't wish it to happen for you guys).
 
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