At the end of September, it was announced that Electronic Arts, one of the largest game publishers in the world, was to be privately acquired by a consortium headed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. The investment group also includes Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, founded and run by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
In a letter to the United States Secretary of the Treasury, key politicians Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal have voiced ‘profound concern’ about the ‘foreign influence and national security risks’ of the impending acquisition.
Pushback Was Inevitable in the EA Deal
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that lawmakers and regulatory bodies will always try to get their two cents heard as these immense acquisitions unravel. The Microsoft purchase of Activision Blizzard King was a great example of that, with the deal being scrutinized and challenged in the courts numerous times.
Electronic Arts is now facing a similar situation, with the consortium’s purchase of the publisher being doubted by US lawmakers.
In a recent email to Scott Bessent, the United States Secretary of the Treasury, it was stated:
We write with profound concern about the foreign influence and national security risks posed by the potential acquisition of American video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake Group, L.L.C. (Silver Lake), and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.
We urge you and the Committee to apply searching scrutiny to this unprecedented, proposed foreign privatization of a major American technology and entertainment company.
The proposed transaction poses a number of significant foreign influence and national security risks, beginning with the PIF’s reputation as a strategic arm of the Saudi government.
Saudi Arabia’s desire to buy influence through the acquisition of EA is apparent on the face of the transaction—the investors propose to pay more than $10 billion above EA’s trading value for a company whose stock has “stagnated for half a decade” in an unpredictably volatile industry.
The letter went on to detail the concerns around Saudi Arabia’s attempts to strengthen foreign influence within the United States, suggesting that a data privacy concern will arise from EA having collected the information of ‘millions of users’ over the years. There are also worries from US politicians that the deal will ‘eliminate transparency’ in the company’s operations.
In a final request, the letter asks that the CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) conduct a thorough investigation and review of the privatization of Electronic Arts, feeding back findings by November 4, 2025.
Do you think the United States government is right to be concerned about the Electronic Arts acquisition? Let me know what you’re thinking on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Liam Hemsworth has addressed Witcher casting doubts
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