EA staff fear new Saudi Arabia owners will police their games: "Projects just won't get signed because they don't align explicitly with what the Saudi government wants"

Surely, they’ll approve a 9/11 flight simulator.

They aren't concerned about being owned by Trump's family too?

I’m going to get downvoted to oblivion, I’m fully aware.

There are many things I don’t know anything about. But I do know a fair bit about this area.

And with great respect to the worriers, this just will not happen.

The investment team that’s bought EA have many other “western” investments they’ve never interfered with, even though they do a great deal of things that the orthodoxy in Saudi Arabia would disagree with. The layers between “what I [claim] to believe” and “make me the most amount of money” are many and includes people from all over the world. If anyone thinks Saudi royalty will sit and make determinations about what games EA will ship they can stop worrying right now. The Saudi monarchy is worrying about two things only: As much money as possible and staying in power.

This is an investments like so many others. It will be ordered to profit-maximise - and if that requires one-upping Doom in gore, and shipping a new edition of Gay Paradise 2000 every 6 months - they will do exactly that.

This is a complete storm in a tea cup.

Bosses cashed out and left the carcas to rot

I doubt they can make EA any worse.

It is so funny to me that the Saudis would invest into a creative industry that thrives on letting artists make what they think is right and then forbid them from doing that. And also expect that industry to then operate profitably, even though they just removed the basic foundation of that industry.

But there is no talking and arguing with people like that, so we can just get popcorn, watch and enjoy the Schadenfreude.

Imagine buying an EA game. Smooth brains only.

If I was an EA employee my biggest fear would be to be cut up into tiny pieces for disagreeing with the boss. Like jamal khashoggi

Imagine a game like Lara Croft, but the main character wears a Burqua.

This will 100% happen. Hell, I couldn’t even leave a critical google review of a nearby middle eastern hotel because of government censorship.

What game is it that they've got in mind that is likely to be killed off? If we were talking about the EA of old then sure they would have had a point but the new corporate EA that's been around for the last two decades doesn't have anything that could be considered controversial.

The gay Sims are going to have a really bad time when the public beheading update comes.

But that's a good thing, because it will go down in flames the way most of us have wanted to see for over a decade.

EA is loaded with so much debt I doubt it will even matter. They‘ll be dismantled.

That's how the whole AAA level of the games industry already works: the people at the top greenlight what they want to greenlight.

They'll just make a new Call of Duty series where you defend Aramco oil assets from terrorist invaders.

Just keep re-releasing sport games every year with updated lineups like you've been doing and you'll be fine.

I've been worried, especially for the Sims, The Sims has been an LGBT Friendly game series since the beginning. Saudi Arabia is not very LGBT Friendly.

Lol Lmao even

Time to work for someone else..

Sounds like an EA problem to me.

Having not playing an EA game in over 2 decades because they are a shitty company with shitty practices that make shitty games, fuck 'em.

Let's hope they get what they deserve.

Surprised Pikachu!

Isn't EA the company recently making headlines for being a power and money-hungry greed machine pushing the inshittification of the digital world and subscription-based life?

Gosh it sucks when someone with more leverage institutes unreasonable and unprecedented restrictions and demands, huh? The narcissism mind-virus is insane.

Open market is great, this is what we want - money rules all

tuff shit. Next time try to make game ppl wanna play. kinda incredible how the last great/ inovative game from ea was fucking bf1 tiresome to have dev play the gamer are mean and need to be educated and then do a 180 being like im affraid for my job.

Noshit

Woaw, never coulda seen that coming.

Maybe, but I don't think the Saudi rulers are lead particularly by belief. That's just some physical world nonsense to keep the plebs in check.

What leads them is money, and the fear that all that oil money they've relied on for the last 100 years or so is going to run out at some point.

That's why games like It Takes Two and Mass Effect will be culled. That's why it'll be wall-to-wall live-service war-slop and sports-slop until the day everyone with even a hint of creativity quits, and then it carries on anyway in a shambling AI form. And people will still lap it up.

Could you imagine? Having art and media freedom hindered by the bigoted, imperialistic values of an authoritarian regime?

Anyway, hope this doesn't effect the Battlefield series. 😔

Quit all at once and start your own company.

Projects won't get signed unless they project a 10000% ROI

Remember that they paid 53 bil plus a huge loan that ea itself will have to pay, for something that has a 300 mil yearly profit

Basically ea FC (or what's the name now?) will become a gambling machine to hook some whales

Then find a new job??? If they're allegedly so morally opposed to their new bosses then why the fuck do they still work there? Let EA rot, jump on board a new studio.

in other news: water is wet.

but i haven't bought an ea game since battlefield 3. so sounts like a them problem...

My wife is glad Paralives is out so she can ignore The Sims.

Its way better and more inclusive.

well duh

so quit

EA? This company most people boycott now? Color me surprised...

I would be surprised if EA can make anything at all after any of its current projects. They need to make more money in profits than they currently make in revenue to survive.

LOL

they will never revive CNC, especially generals which has the GLA.

EA has employees?

🤦 "bad slave, the truth makes me look bad"

Honestly, I expected rapid enshittification when Scopely bought Pokemon Go, but it's been better than when Niantic owned it

Compared to taking orders from Sweet Baby Inc of course

Finally, we get a Gran Turismo of camel racing!

Isn't what woke does?

Doesn't woke defend Islam?