EA has officially gone private in a major deal that took place in late September 2025, with the entire acquisition of the company costing a massive 55 billion dollars. This was the largest ever buyout in gaming history, and it has since garnered some major concerns. As a result of this deal, EA will not officially be privately owned by Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund (PIF) and Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. To speak on the security risks of this deal, a few U.S. senators penned a letter, citing “profound concern about the foreign influence.”
U.S. Senators Pen Letter About National Security Risks of EA Deal
Now that EA has been bought out, there have been concerns about national security and the influence the companies could have over EA. We recently spoke about the issues with mention that owners such as Jared Kushner could politically influence the advertisements found in sports games such as Madden and FIFA.
U.S. senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal recently penned a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, citing “profound concern about the foreign influence and national security risks” of the EA buyout. The main focus centered on the PIF becoming the majority owner of EA, and how it could use that ownership to influence the creation of games at EA.
The EA deal was largely due to the company taking some major losses over the last year, with it losing around $6 billion in stock value in January 2024. Warren and Blumenthal’s letter states that these trends suggest the PIF bought EA has a means of influencing audiences rather than focusing on profit. Not only this, but the letter also focuses on how the Saudi government could use EA to collect data on millions of gamers from around the world.
There has been no information on how the government plans to regulate the deal, but it is important to note that the PIF has been one of Nintendo’s largest outside investors, and it has been steadily increasing its portfolio with trades in the gaming industry, among others.
