EA Could Merge With Savvy Games Under Saudi PIF Umbrella

Less than two months after a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund completed a $55 billion buyout of EA, the same wealth fund is reportedly weighing a plan to fold the publisher into its existing gaming business, Savvy Games Group, potentially creating one of the most powerful entities in the entire games industry.

What Is Being Considered

According to Rock Paper Shotgun, the plan is being weighed by executives as a way to better coordinate the Saudi PIF’s growing portfolio of gaming investments under a single corporate structure. Bloomberg originally reported the story, citing the goal of creating one unified vehicle for all of the fund’s video game-related activity. GamesIndustry.biz notes that no final decision has been made at this stage.

Why It Won’t Happen Immediately

Any merger between EA and Savvy Games faces at least one immediate logistical obstacle. Savvy is currently in the middle of acquiring Moonton, a Chinese mobile game developer and publisher, in a deal worth $6 billion. That transaction would need to close before a larger structural combination with EA could move forward, according to Rock Paper Shotgun. On top of that, a merger of this scale would require antitrust approval from regulators, just as the original EA acquisition did.

Bloomberg has also speculated that combining EA with Savvy could push the publisher deeper into mobile gaming, a market where EA has limited presence compared to its console and PC output.

Worker Concerns Are Already Running High

EA employees have been vocal about their anxieties since the original acquisition was announced. As Rock Paper Shotgun explains, leveraged buyouts typically work by loading the acquired company with debt, which it must then service out of its own revenue. That financial structure creates strong incentives for new owners to cut costs aggressively, and staff fear layoffs and team closures as a result.

Beyond financial concerns, workers have raised questions about editorial independence. One anonymous EA employee told Game Developer last month that they worry Saudi government ownership could shape which projects get approved, not through direct intervention but through a gradual process of self-censorship, with teams second-guessing pitches that might not sit well with ownership. Amnesty International has documented Saudi Arabia’s human rights record as a serious concern.

Whether a merger with Savvy Games would deepen those concerns or change the day-to-day operational picture at EA remains unknown. For now, the reported plan is still at the deliberation stage, and no public announcement has come from the PIF, EA, or Savvy.

Sources: Rock Paper Shotgun, GamesIndustry.biz