The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) is exploring a plan to merge publisher Electronic Arts with its holding company, Savvy Games Group. The plan aims to create one of the world's largest gaming conglomerates and ensure better coordination among the fund's gaming assets.
According to Bloomberg, no final decisions have been made. Any potential deal will only occur after Savvy Games Group completes its $6 billion acquisition of the Chinese mobile game developer Moonton.
A potential merger would create a single platform for Saudi Arabia for future company acquisitions, game development, and the exploitation of intellectual property. It is currently unknown whether EA would retain its status as a separate entity within the new organization or if one company would fully absorb the other. Implementing this initiative would also require regulatory approvals. Representatives for both EA and the PIF declined to comment.
The structural change is being considered just over a month after the completion of the $55 billion buyout of Electronic Arts. At that time, a consortium comprising the PIF, Affinity Partners, and Silver Lake took the publisher private, with the PIF securing a controlling stake.
The EA acquisition became the largest leveraged buyout in history, adding $20 billion in debt obligations to the company. Industry sources have expressed concern that to reduce this debt burden, the new owners may resort to large-scale staff layoffs and studio closures.
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