According to Wccftech, Electronic Arts shareholders have officially voted to approve the company’s $55 billion sale to a private consortium. The investor group is led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and includes Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, Silver Lake. The sale was first announced back in September 2025, and this shareholder vote was the first major step in the process of taking EA private. Now, the deal must be approved by government regulators worldwide, a review that analysts expect could take well over a year, similar to the protracted Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition. If finalized, the Saudi PIF would own a staggering 93.4% of the gaming giant.
The Regulatory Gauntlet Begins
So, shareholders said yes. Big deal. Now comes the hard part. And if you thought the Microsoft-Activision saga was a drawn-out regulatory drama, buckle up. This one has the potential to be even messier. U.S. Senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, have already fired a warning shot. In a letter to the Treasury Secretary, they called for “searching scrutiny,” arguing the sale gives an “authoritarian regime” a powerful tool for global influence. That’s not the kind of language that makes for a smooth regulatory ride. Basically, after Microsoft, regulators are on high alert, and a deal with this much geopolitical baggage is a giant red flag.
More Than Just Politics, Jobs On The Line
It’s not just politicians worried about soft power, though. The concerns get a lot more concrete when you look at the human cost. CWA Canada, a major media union, is urging Canada’s Competition Bureau to block the deal, citing major fears for job losses at EA studios like Motive, BioWare, and EA Vancouver. Here’s the thing: the consortium is financing this deal with a whopping $20 billion in debt. What’s the easiest way to service that debt? Cutting costs. And what’s the biggest cost at a game company? People. The union points out EA has already laid off over 1,700 workers since 2023. A debt-laden private equity takeover almost certainly means that trend accelerates, not slows down.
What Happens Next?
Now we wait. This deal is in for a marathon, not a sprint. We’ll likely be hearing about regulatory filings, hearings, and concessions for the next 12-18 months, minimum. The outcome is genuinely uncertain. Could global regulators actually block a $55 billion transaction? It seemed unthinkable a few years ago, but the playbook has changed. If it fails, EA goes back to business as usual as a public company. If it succeeds, the video game industry landscape is permanently altered. A single foreign government will control FIFA, Madden, The Sims, and Battlefield. That’s a staggering amount of cultural and data influence. The question isn’t just *can* they do it, but *what* will they do with it?
