Video Games: Publisher Electronic Arts Has Been Bought for $55 Billion by a Consortium of Investment Funds

WINNING COMBO: EA is known worldwide for its titles “The Sims”, “EA Sports FC (formerly Fifa)”, “Madden” etc

This time, it’s done: the American video game publisher Electronic Arts (EA), which notably produces the popular football games EA Sports FC (ex-Fifa) or simulation The Sims, announced today, Monday 29th September 2025, its acquisition by a consortium of investment funds.

The operation, carried out entirely in cash, will value EA at around $55 billion, the company said in a press release. In the first exchanges after the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, the stock gained more than 5%.

A transaction finalized next spring

The consortium is made up of Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF, as well as investment firms Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, the latter founded by the son-in-law of Donald Trump, Jared Kushner.

Stakeholders of the transaction expect it to be finalized in the first quarter of EA’s staggered fiscal year, i.e. between April and June 2026, subject to the green light from regulators. Once the takeover is effective, EA shares will be delisted, said the press release published Monday.

The jackpot with “Fifa”

Electronic Arts is known worldwide for its title Fifa, simulation of football updated every year from 1993 to 2023, before the publisher lost the license after a financial disagreement between EA and the International Federation (Fifa).

Despite its name change, the game, now called EA Sports FC, has largely retained its player base, to the point of being the best-selling game in Western Europe in 2023, the year the first vintage was launched, l’EA Sports FC 2024.

“The Sims”, “Madden”, “NHL”, “UFC” and “F1”

Besides football, the Redwood City group (California) also publishes, under license, Madden (american football in partnership with the league NFL), NHL (hockey), UFC (martial arts mixed) and F1 (Formula 1).

The publisher also owns the franchise The Sims, game that allows you to create an avatar and develop characters and a city in a world virtual. A quarter of a century after its launch, this universe continues to attract new fans and, in May 2024, EA revealed that 85 million people were playing the latest version, The Sims 4.