Gaming is the new oil.
That line stuck with me after reading about the $55 billion EA deal.
Saudi Arabia’s investment fund, Silver Lake, and even Jared Kushner’s firm, all in on it. Twenty billion of it is debt. It’s the biggest leveraged buyout gaming’s ever seen. Bigger than Dell, bigger than Hilton. EA, the studio behind FIFA, Battlefield, The Sims, is going private.
On paper, sounds like freedom. No more Wall Street pressure. But that word “leveraged”, means borrowed money, and borrowed money comes with strings. Analysts already warn: layoffs, restructuring, focus on what makes cash. Sports and live-service games. Less risk, fewer weird creative projects.
What’s wild is who’s buying. This isn’t about profit. It’s about power. Saudi Arabia’s been saying it for years, Vision 2030, culture as influence. They own stakes in Nintendo, Take-Two, Embracer. Now EA. Not to sell games, but to buy a seat at the cultural table.
And honestly, that’s both fascinating and… a bit unsettling. What happens when state money steers creative industries? When Battlefield’s next story runs through a geopolitical filter?
They say no “immediate” layoffs. But we all know what that means. Once the ink dries, priorities shift. Maybe even offices move east.
It’s strange, one day you’re playing FIFA, the next it’s part of global strategy.
Games used to be about fun. Now they’re becoming foreign policy.
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