""This is the second-largest deal in games history-$50 billion for a mature publisher whose growth engine has stalled," Joost van Dreunen, a professor at NYU's Stern School of Business and author of SuperJoost Playlist, wrote in an email to Kotaku. "It shows how sovereign capital, not just Big Tech, is now dictating who controls cultural IP. It also highlights how public-market fatigue with slow-growth publishers is pushing them toward privatization.""
""At the center sits the irrational financial logic that tells you it's about power, prestige, and staking Saudi Arabia's"
Saudi Arabia is pursuing a major gaming-industrial strategy, driven by a Crown Prince mandate to allocate roughly $38 billion toward building a domestic games sector. The Public Investment Fund and affiliated vehicles have been acquiring mobile studios, investing in esports, and taking equity stakes in major gaming companies, including a roughly 10 percent stake in EA prior to the sale. A roughly $55 billion leveraged buyout of EA is being financed largely with Saudi capital and includes about $20 billion of debt. The transaction increases sovereign influence over cultural IP, reflects public-market fatigue with slow-growth publishers, and prioritizes power and prestige alongside financial considerations.
Read at Kotaku
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