The buyers are committing $36 billion of their own equity (briefly and inexpertly, "equity" is the value of your assets after you deduct anything you owe), including the value of the PIF's existing investments in EA. They're making up the rest of the total thanks to a $20 billion loan from JPMorgan Chase Bank. How will they manage that massive debt? According to the Financial Times, who cite unnamed insiders, they're gambling on the deployment of generative AI tools as a gigantic cost-saving measure.
"The investors are betting that AI-based cost cuts will significantly boost EA's profits in the coming years, people involved in the transaction told the Financial Times," the paper wrote (paywall) in their own coverage of the story. The FT elsewhere commented that the acquisition "is a huge bet that artificial intelligence can significantly cut EA's operating costs, allowing the equity consortium to manage a large debt load on a company that historically carried limited net debt."
103 Comments
Darkcoffee@sh.itjust.works · 91 pts · 328d
Might as well consider EA dead.
whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works · 37 pts · 328d
Good?
ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com · 51 pts · 328d
On paper EA being dead is good, but I'd like it to be dead and without parasites making money off of the corpse.
rustyfish@piefed.world · 15 pts · 328d
As long as someone buys the rights to…half a billion video game franchises EA is sitting on, yes. It is good.
fossilesque@mander.xyz · 9 pts · 328d
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 328d
1982:
webghost0101@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 328d
It’s been a rotting corpse for a while now.
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works · 55 pts · 328d
EA can always keep printing money by putting out the same sport games every year, how the fuck did they get into $36 billion debt? I’m not even mad, that’s impressive.
jlh@lemmy.jlh.name · 51 pts · 328d
The $20B was printed by JPMorgan Chase bankers so that Jared Kushner and the Saudis could buy EA at 45% off. In return, the saudis promise that they can siphon $20B from fired workers back to the bankers over the next ~10 years.
hddsx@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 328d
No? JPMorgam Chase wrote a loan, right? Don’t they win no matter what, so long as the company doesn’t go under? They’re getting interest no?
jlh@lemmy.jlh.name · 25 pts · 328d
Yes, it's a loan so big that normal personal finance "savings and loans" rules don't really apply. This loan is 3X EA's entire revenue, 2X Nintendo's entire revenue. Basically an entire new game-publisher's worth of money flowed into the gaming industry to exert dictatorial control over EA. JPMorgan Chase just have to make sure that they get their money back from the EA employees they just helped the Saudis buy.
Nerdulous@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 327d
They actually don't even have to do that. They get the money off the fees and limited interest on the transaction and sell the debt as a "prime" investment to your retirement fund or pension. Leaving the common people to hold the bag while they receive millions in fees and no liability
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 9 pts · 328d
At this level, maybe not. When you owe the bank $10k and can't pay it back, it's your problem. When you owe the bank $20B and can't pay it back, it's the bank's problem.
This is how 2008 happened.
SSUPII@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 327d
As someone who understands the differences between soccer games I can tell anyone who actually gives a fuck about soccer game quality and is not gacha addicted will confirm current FIFA/FC is utterly shit.
They are probably paying billions in so many teams and players licensing while everything has miniscule improvements or even removing stuff (like Volta game mode).
Every year EA is reporting lesser and lesser profits from the FC series, and doesn't help that after the first weeks the yearly games start rotting in store shelves while asking 60+ Euro. They make money from the whales spending salaries on player card packs on FUT, and they are quite angry too. Konami is down the corner gaining more and more revenue and users yearly from the FC refugees (not that f2p eFootball is good either).
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 50 pts · 328d
This is a very longwinded way to say "EA will die in a few years".
VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 18 pts · 328d
"I don't care who wins. I just want EA to lose." Star Wars guy
LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 328d
This, they destroyed the art of US video games because it was promoting bad values like gay marriage in The Sims
pulsewidth@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 328d
EA's output of middling products filled with aggressive microstransactions is about to be bolstered with.. heavy use of AI slop?
I'm looking forward to watching this bankruptcy speedrun.
Jhex@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 328d
I can't wait for this "investment" to go so down the drain for them...
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 328d
A lot of what this means is a pivot to the highest yield games. So... more GACHA and other lootbox style gaming. Cheaper assets, more redundancy in levels, shorter and cheaper cut scenes, etc.
But this is normal operating procedure in a bust-out style business model. EA's going to be boiled down and stripped just like so many prior studios, from THQ to Bioware.
VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 328d
Can't wait to watch EA scrape by with Gacha games while SE Asia game companies destroy them with their Gacha games.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 328d
Oh, that's not going to be a problem. We're just going to firewall off all the SE Asian companies with tariffs and sanctions.
pycorax@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 328d
What SE Asia companies have any success with gacha? Most of them are Japanese, Korean and China.
db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 23 pts · 328d
Well, they're fucked then
scottmeme@sh.itjust.works · 21 pts · 328d
EA Sports It's in the slop
msage@programming.dev · 3 pts · 327d
Has been for many years
wrinkledoo@sh.itjust.works · 21 pts · 327d
So now EA has been acquired and will become a shell of it's former self.
Ironic.
BlackVenom@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 327d
Has it been more than a shell in the last decade or two?
I hope, by some odd twist of fate, that Maxis is spit back out into its formal glory. Most likely it'll just kill more good game series.
No_Eponym@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 327d
vane@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 327d
This will be fun to watch. Maybe not for 14 500 EA employees. I kindly suggest them to leave as soon as possible.
buddascrayon@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 327d
Indeed. I think it would be in their best interest to find work elsewhere before they end up getting laid off at the most inconvenient time.
Beyond that it should be amusing to watch this company go down in flames.
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 20 pts · 327d
Leveraged buyouts are so stupid to me. "Hi, I'd like to buy this company, but since it will be my company, the company needs to have the debt, not me. So if it goes wrong, well, that's the company's fault, not mine." Should be illegal.
SparroHawc@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 327d
It's like buying a house, and then expecting the house to pay the mortgage.
redhorsejacket@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 326d
I mean,isn't that what a foreclosure sale is?
I'm honestly asking. The world of corporate raiding is a foreign and distasteful place to my arts and sciences brain. The world of home buying is also foreign to my arts and sciences brain, but that's cause I leaned more into arts than sciences.
That being said, you put up 20 grand of your money for a down payment. The bank loans you 200k. You fail to make your payments. Bank forecloses and sells off the property to cover the remaining debt, or at least claw back whatever they can get from it. Would that be so different than what's likely to happen if EA fails to pay JP Morgan back? Is it the liability of Kushner et al vs the liability of a homeowner that is the primary difference?
SparroHawc@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 324d
That's the idea at least, but a corporation is a vastly different thing. A piece of property doesn't have employees, obligations, etc etc. (Well okay, large properties often do, but they aren't hired by the buildings themselves.)
Manjushri@piefed.social · 18 pts · 328d
This has got to be some form of vulture capitalism. They will sell off all the IP and physical property, either directly or by spinning off divisions into new companies to sell off. Then sell off any other pieces of the company that they can, and finally they'll take all that income as bonuses for the new owners and leave the remains of EA with nothing but debt and no option other than to file for bankruptcy. Same thing that was done to companies like Toys-R-Us but on a larger scale.
The3represents@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 328d
That was exactly my thought. Extract cash for the owners through massive cuts, gut the company and discard the husk. Classic leveraged buy out scheme.
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 328d
Thing is, could they even get enough from selling the IP to cover the purchase?
Manjushri@piefed.social · 2 pts · 328d
Probably not and they have no intention to. They will give themselves bonuses and stock dividends that will eat up all the income from selling the IP (and everything else) and then leave the company with nothing but debt forcing it to declare bankruptcy.
bob_omb_battlefield@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 327d
Don't they need to get at least $36 billion from that for it to be worth it?
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 327d
No shit. My question is whether there's enough value in EA's IP get more than their investment money out of doing that.
If the IP isn't worth enough, they can't get their money back, no matter what method they use to extract it
heavy@sh.itjust.works · 18 pts · 328d
Hope their IP gets sold to other companies. Would love to see another wing commander in my lifetime.
SkyezOpen@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 328d
I have good news and bad news on that front. The good news is that the original wing commander dev is making a spiritual successor to the game. The bad news is that it's star citizen.
kboy101222@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 328d
Fuckin oof
harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 327d
For a brief moment, I had hope. Then, poof, it was gone.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 327d
Technically, the Wing Commander successor is Squadron 42. Star Citizen is a Freelancer successor.
I understand if this brings you little comfort.
harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 327d
More comfort than before. Thank you, kind internet stranger.
Damage@feddit.it · 18 pts · 328d
I have an hard time believing multiple investment funds can be so clueless.
mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml · 15 pts · 327d
They aren’t, they will make money stripping EA for parts and once the husk is spent it will be disposed of.
Damage@feddit.it · 5 pts · 327d
I don't see how EA can be that valuable when taken apart. Ok they've got the sports licenses and a few good IPs, but idk.
Zedd_Prophecy@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 328d
There's a huge bet that most of us are going to boycott this tomfuckery and do no further business with EA.
bytesonbike@discuss.online · 9 pts · 327d
Already have.
Unfortunately, will the EA Sports fans and Battlefield fans do the same?
tea@lemmy.today · 11 pts · 327d
If they hadn't left already, they never will.
FIFA and Madden have been dog shit iterations for years and years and people keep buying them. Plus Battlefield 6 might actually be good and will test plenty of people (like me) who said "never again" long ago. Luckily I probably won't actually be tempted because of EA anti cheat and Linux incompatibility.
SaneMartigan@aussie.zone · 7 pts · 327d
I was all up for BF6. It releases in two weeks. A bunch of friends are going to get it. I was a bit annoyed that it was the only reason I'd still be using windows11 but I was prepared to wear it. But Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, fuck.that.noise. No way am I giving that cunt anti-cheat access to my computer.
Zedd_Prophecy@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 326d
No.... They won't. But the rest of us free thinkers will. Is it a win? I dunno. I'll carry that flag tho.
Siegehammer85@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 327d
I just uninstalled EA launcher because it's a fucking cancer and I see this afterwards... If it's not on Steam it's piracy material from here on out. Fuck all other launchers/services except GoG, GoG is cool too.
buddascrayon@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 327d
Business majors are so incredibly dumb. Why did we as a society decide they were so important?
Fedizen@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 328d
They're over leveraged on AI so they're trying to create markets for it, lol. Jesus christ this economy is a ponzi scheme
badbytes@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 327d
So ToyRUs 2.0 then?
stringere@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 327d
samesies!
ApollosArrow@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 327d
Looks like the monopoly on sports video games is ending soon.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 328d
Kind of a strange bet to make when AI use has been going down in large companies lately. Hope EA goes down as well.
M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 9 pts · 327d
Ah so we can see EA do a Kmart. Neat
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 327d
EA being on the recieving end of what they've been doing to others for years
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 327d
Bye EA. Was nice knowing you.
E: just noticed I’ve been playing EA games since M.U.L.E. on the C-64. Say what you want about the company itself, but they have a long history of making games people want to play. Been playing the entire Battlefield franchise since 1942. Sucks that you can’t play 2142 or even Hardline anymore.
stringere@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 327d
OMG I played so much M.U.L.E on the C64. Archon and Jumpman, also.
morphballganon@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
Note to readers: 1942 is the name of a game, not the year of release
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 327d
Hence the italics to denote a title and not a generic date.
morphballganon@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
Italics can also denote emphasis.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 326d
They can. But not in this case.
LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 9 pts · 328d
This is assuming people will pay money to play AI slop. These companies continue to vastly overestimate the value of AI produced content. It might be passable on like, bags of candy, maybe even occasionally passable on like free webcomics. And low quality website design. Maybe some simple cash grab mobile games that get taken down after a couple weeks due to the obvious scams.
But paid video games? Which theyre already charging absurd prices for? No. This bubble will burst and companies that continue producing actual games will come out ahead. Companies that are foolishly going all in on entirely unproven technology will crumble.
djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 328d
I mean... you're talking about the company that makes billions of dollars a year on FIFA games, which are already only one step removed from AI slop. I don't seriously think EA's customer base will care; the quality of the games made by EA is already low enough that I don't believe the use of AI will move the needle. And honestly, will anyone care if it's AI updating the rosters and title to FIFA 26? I guess I feel bad for the working devs putting food on their table, but is that the job that want?
LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 328d
I really do genuinely believe that AI content is a substantial drop in quality even from minimal effort content. They'd better invest their time moving to a subscription model. And evidently, whatever theyre currently doing isnt working or they wouldnt be in this situation in the first place. So, id say, firing everyone and moving to AI based content is unlikely to save them and I would believe likely to make their situation much worse.
Glytch@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
Don't they not make FIFA anymore because they didn't want to pay for the license?
djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 327d
FIFA 2026 just came out four days ago, so I'm pretty sure they still make it.
Glytch@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 327d
You mean EA Sports FC 26? Which has been stripped of FIFA branding?
djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 327d
Oh I see, you were just being pedantic for no reason.
Glytch@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 327d
No I was being pedantic because that's how licensing works and the game "FIFA 26" does not exist.
LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 328d
It's probably AI videos games made by AI for AI to play. People need to do stuff like mining and growing organs, they can't do anything nice anymore like play games
Jaysyn@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 327d
I've not bought an EA game in 11+ years and see no reason to start now.
"And then it got worse" isn't only a valid description of Russian History.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 328d
What a fantastic plan. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 328d
Stay the course, this will go great.
AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space · 9 pts · 328d
Also, a bet on consumers being willing to pay AAA prices for slop
djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 328d
They already do, the only difference is now the slop will be made by AI instead of underpaid developers in Romania.
MohamedMoney@feddit.org · 3 pts · 328d
Don’t they do that already?
Noise7@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 328d
Hahaha sure, let them do that.
I always hated them anyway. Good riddance.
TwinTitans@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 328d
They’re also betting on people buying this crap. Hopefully they don’t.
Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 328d
good, let them fail more.
CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 328d
Just sitting here playing the long game, waiting for EA to finally implode and get sold off for parts so we can finally get a new Command & Conquer.
CyberSeeker@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 328d
Vibe coding is one thing, but I am curious about the state of using of AI tools to reduce the cost of generating 3D assets, animations, and textures. I assume they are introducing this into Ignite and their other build tools, for more rapid prototyping if nothing else.
CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 328d
My first thought was they'll probably use it to generate endless slop assets for The Sims, since people seem to pick up whatever they put out for that.
Hackworth@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 328d
Almacca@aussie.zone · 5 pts · 326d
I'll take that bet.
StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 324d
EdanGrey@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 328d
Well now, I'd already basically given up on EA, glad I made the right choice
x00z@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 327d
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 3 pts · 327d
The image being so small makes it funnier.
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 328d
Whoops.
se7enfeet@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 327d
Game quality from this company will be absolute dogshit ai slop
No_Eponym@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 327d
How many EA games require you connect to their servers just to play? How many have ToS where you need to install any updates before you play? How long before these PE folks figure out they can push updates to even older games that add data mining capacity?
se7enfeet@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 327d
At this point EA is a slur and is not allowed in my home
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 327d
hope they least long enough to release the worst game in history.
BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 328d
EAAI
HorreC@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 328d
Not that I bought their games to start, but I can hope this drives others to stop buying their games all just to say fuck you to some of the investors in this.
morphballganon@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
I will gladly take the customers EA loses
stringere@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 327d
Maybe private equity will do to EA what they did to Toys'R'Us!
fodor@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 327d