Electronic Arts is laying off an undisclosed number of employees ahead of its expected $55 billion leveraged buyout by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner-linked Affinity Partners – a deal that EA‘s own regulatory filings promised would trigger “no immediate changes” to jobs, making the timing of these cuts a direct contradiction of the assurances used to secure shareholder approval, as reported by community reporting aggregated on Reddit’s r/Games.
Here’s the context: EA announced the definitive acquisition agreement on September 29, 2025, with shareholders receiving $210 per share in cash – roughly a 25% premium over EA‘s unaffected share price of $168.32 as of September 25, 2025. The deal is structured as an all-cash leveraged buyout financed by approximately $36 billion in equity and roughly $20 billion in debt, making it the largest LBO in gaming history. PIF is rolling over an existing $5 billion equity stake in EA and contributing more fresh capital than either Silver Lake or Affinity Partners, with the transaction expected to close between mid-2026 and early FY 2027 pending regulatory review including US CFIUS scrutiny. This comes on top of roughly 670 layoffs EA executed in 2024 and further cuts made in May 2025 – a pattern that fits the broader industry-wide restructuring wave we’ve tracked in stories like Bungie’s major layoffs and Destiny 3 cancellation and Microsoft’s studio closures and Xbox restructuring.
The current round of layoffs has no confirmed headcount attached to it – EA has not publicly disclosed which divisions, studios, or franchises are affected, nor has it issued a statement explaining the scope of cuts. What is confirmed is that these reductions are happening before the deal closes, which means they are occurring under EA‘s current public-company structure, not as a post-acquisition restructuring move. That distinction matters because the filings used to win shareholder approval explicitly stated that the acquisition would produce no changes to jobs, teams, or daily work – language that a group of EA employees cited directly in an open letter warning of exactly the mass layoffs and studio shutdowns now materializing. The Communications Workers of America has begun organizing around the transaction, and US Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren co-authored a letter to CEO Andrew Wilson and Treasury officials raising concerns about foreign influence and worker impact. Wilson is expected to remain CEO under the new ownership structure.
Honestly, the gap between EA‘s official framing and what is actually happening deserves to be named plainly. EA and its acquirers told shareholders and regulators that the buyers were “committed to our exceptional employees and strong culture” – that’s the kind of language designed to clear regulatory hurdles and suppress labor opposition, not a binding operational commitment. A $20 billion debt load doesn’t care about culture; it requires cash-flow optimization, and in a games company that means headcount. The layoffs arriving before the deal even closes suggest that EA‘s leadership is already trimming the balance sheet to make the post-acquisition numbers work, whether or not that was the explicit instruction from PIF and Silver Lake. For players, the stakes run through franchises like Battlefield, EA Sports College Football – which is actively expanding, as we noted in our coverage of EA Sports College Football 27’s PC release – The Sims, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. The Sims case is particularly sharp: Saudi Arabia’s human-rights record on LGBTQ issues has prompted genuine concern from creators and community members about whether the series’ longstanding inclusivity will survive a change in ultimate ownership. EA has promised creative freedom will remain intact. Given what the pre-close layoffs already signal, those promises are carrying a lot of weight on very thin evidence.
What remains unclear is nearly everything that would let workers and players assess the actual damage: the total number of employees being let go in the current round, which specific studios or teams are absorbing the cuts, whether active development projects are being shelved alongside the headcount reductions, and how the $20 billion debt structure will shape EA‘s portfolio decisions once the deal formally closes. EA has issued no public statement on the scope of the current layoffs. Regulatory approval – particularly CFIUS review given the size of PIF‘s role – remains an open question that could delay or impose conditions on the closing. What to watch: the CFIUS review timeline and any conditions attached to it are the next concrete signal, alongside EA‘s next earnings call, which will either surface updated headcount figures or reveal how aggressively the company is managing costs in the run-up to the acquisition close targeted for mid-2026 to early FY 2027.
Does the combination of pre-close layoffs and a $20 billion debt load change your confidence in the future of specific EA franchises – The Sims, Mass Effect, or Battlefield in particular? And does a sovereign wealth fund from Saudi Arabia owning one of gaming’s largest publishers raise concerns for you that go beyond the usual private-equity consolidation playbook? Sound off in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more EA and games industry coverage.
