Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is reportedly considering a significant consolidation of its gaming interests by merging Electronic Arts (EA) with Savvy Games Group, the PIF's own video game company. This potential merger comes just over a month after the PIF became a key stakeholder in EA, joining Silver Lake Partners and Affinity Partners in acquiring the publisher of titles like Apex Legends and Madden.
According to a Bloomberg report, PIF executives are exploring the integration of EA, one of the world's largest game publishers, into Savvy Games Group. Savvy already owns stakes in companies such as Scopely, known for mobile titles like Pokémon Go. The stated aim of this potential integration is to improve coordination among the PIF's various gaming investments. However, no definitive decisions have been made, and any such deal would likely be delayed until Savvy completes its acquisition of Chinese mobile gaming firm Moontown for $6 billion.
Should this merger proceed, it would create a singular entity for the Saudi wealth fund to manage its gaming acquisitions and development efforts, moving away from the current model of multiple independent subsidiaries. The move could also face antitrust scrutiny, drawing parallels to the regulatory challenges encountered during Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Sources within EA have indicated that employees are largely unaware of the implications of these potential changes. Nevertheless, there is anticipation among studio staff for potential layoffs across EA's various development studios following such a significant restructuring.