A new petition from EA employees has surfaced online, along with additional pushback from US politician representatives.
Electronic Arts is currently facing two opposing forces negotiating against the recently announced private equity buyout. One by the United States politicians who are concerned for the privacy and data collection of millions of players, and another by EA’s own employees who are worried about their job positions.
Let’s break it down in the latest news reports:
US Politicians Send a Letter to the US Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
An official letter pushing against Electronic Arts’ $55 billion dollar buyout by private investment firms, including Jared Kushner, Saudi Arabia’s private investment fund and Silver Lake was sent out today. The letter, written by US politicians Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal to United States’ Scott Bessent, Secretary of of the Treasury and Chair of the Comittee on Foreign Investment talks about the concerns of this private deal. Stating that there are several risks at stake with the proposed buyout; including data collection, Saudi Arabia’s intentions of clearing its name and Jared Kushner’s inclusion in the deal to ensure “government’s approval of transaction”.
The letter goes in greater detail about the concerns this imposes for the national security and customer data. Implying that “The unrestricted access to this information by a repressive, authoritarian government poses significant potential risks of surveillance of Americans, covert Saudi propaganda, and selective retaliation and censorship of persons disfavored by the Saudi government.”
Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal emphasized on the secret intentions that this leveraged buyout might have for Saudi Arabia’s long term goal.
Leveraging long term shifts in public opinion, through the PIF’s investments, “Saudi Arabia is seeking to normalize its global image, expand its cultural reach, and gain leverage in spaces that shape how billions of people connect and interact.” Saudi Arabia’s desire to buy influence through the acquisition of EA is apparent on the face of the transaction—the investors propose to pay more than $10 billion above EA’s trading value for a company whose stock has “stagnated for half a decade” in an unpredictably volatile industry.
Considering that Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund is the majority stakeholder of this buyout, the mentioned US politicians are concerned for Jared Kushner’s involvment in the whole purchase. Insinuating that his son-in-law relations to the current president of United States Donald Trump might be the main reason he’s being involved in this deal. Ensuring that it goes through successfully during his presidency.
Moreover, the PIF’s decision to partner with Trump family member Jared Kushner, whose firm previously received a $2 billion investment from the PIF over the objections of the PIF’s own investment screening board, raises troubling questions about whether Mr. Kushner is involved in the transaction solely to ensure the federal government’s approval of the transaction. Given the proposed transaction’s termination fee contingencies, the three investors appear to be betting $1 billion that Mr. Kushner can deliver the Trump Administration’s regulatory approvals. Indeed, consistent with the Trump Administration’s unprecedented corruption and monetization of federal government power, “What regulator is going to say no to
the president’s son-in-law?”
The full letter to US Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs can be found here. According to Insider Gaming, the first round of reviews and investigations on this matter should be done by November 4th, 2025.
This wouldn’t be the first time that a video gaming company buyout is facing pushback in the world of US politics. Microsoft’s acquisition of gaming company Activision / Blizzard went through several trials, regulations and pushbacks before the deal eventually went through. This time around the employees are ready to push back too…
EA Employees are Taking a Stand
What started as anonymous quotes to news reporters about the potential workspace insecurity turned into a public petition. Created by its own employees at EA, the new official petition is standing against the privatization and buyout of Electronic Arts. If jobs are lost or studios are closed due to this deal, that would be a choice, not a necessity, made to pad investors pockets — not to strengthen the company.
The petition states that Electronic Arts makes $7.5 billion revenue a year, with over $1 billion dollars in profit. It’s not a necessity, but rather a free choice by EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson. One that its own employees weren’t made aware of, and are now concerned for their own future.
Read the full petition down below:
For years, video game publishers have been racking up profits by squeezing workers and players.
Now a group of investors – including the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners – wants to buy Electronic Arts, concentrating even more power and wealth into the hands of a few gatekeepers while doing nothing to address the concerns of workers and players.
EA is not a struggling company. With annual revenues reaching $7.5 billion annually and $1 billion in profit each year, EA is one of the largest video game developers and publishers in the world. EA’s success has been entirely driven by tens of thousands of EA workers like us whose creativity, skill and innovation made EA worth buying in the first place.
If jobs are lost or studios are closed due to this deal, that would be a choice, not a necessity, made to pad investors pockets — not to strengthen the company.
We are calling on regulators and elected officials to scrutinize this deal and ensure that any path forward protects jobs, and preserves creative freedom.
Sign the petition to join us in our fight to make video games better for workers and players – not billionaires.
The petition can be signed by both EA players and EA employees, as well as players of video games from other companies.
It’s been expected that the largest video game buyout will face pushbacks and obstacles, but not on the scale where the company’s own employees are ready to empower complaints to the Federal Trade Comission.
What are your thoughts on the latest developments on the EA buyout? Let us know in the comments down below and stay tuned for the latest Electronic Arts updates!
Signed it.
Signed, commented and worried.
Considering how much data they’re harvesting from our computers, I think the concern is valid. Has anyone actually taken a hard look at the new updated User Agreement and Play Charter? I’m honestly surprised more people aren’t up in arms about it.
I still don’t know if the deal is finally through. And if a not-American person can sign the petition.
The deal isn’t final yet. It requires approval from the current shareholders (probably a formality), as well as approval from American authorities (which is the subject of this article). And if it doesn’t say you can’t sign the petition, it most likely means you can. You’re not making any sort of transaction, you’re just voicing your opinion. EA has employees outside the US and customers all over the world. I’m pretty sure it’s safe to sign, otherwise that wouldn’t make any sense.
I just tried, was worried they wanted my “Postcode”, typed my Postleitzahl and they accepted it. I was really surprised.
Yes, they can. You just need to be either a player or an employee.
The acquisition will be finalized, thanks to Jared Kushner, the FTC, and other mafia associates. No doubt about it.
The petition argues that video game publishers have been profiting by exploiting workers and players for years. The UNITED VIDEOGAME WORKERS-CWA are urging us to sign the petition to protect workers. They claim that video game publishers are squeezing players. I agree.
Indeed, Maxis Producers have repeatedly squeezed players by lying about features and fixes. They just come up with ideas that recycle gameplay and coding, which saves developers time and maximizes profits as everything is mostly based on the Clubs system from Get Together.
Furthermore, projects are passed to be executed by a swarm of developers who work on multiple games, not just the Sims. This is similar to workers in a factory, who receive tasks from producers and the assembled team for a specific project. Each expansion pack is treated as a separate game, which is why they don’t usually return to fix or expand on them. Once they are done, everything is shut down.
Additionally, there is no dedicated team working on bugs; instead, general workers and developers in their cubicles are working on bugs for multiple games. They don’t know the game, don’t play it, and don’t like it. It’s just a few minor fixes. Of course, producers know somewhat the Sims game, but their job is to use the minimum allocated resources to the max and transfer all revenue to other EA projects/games.
The Content Creator Network is used to gather feedback and fix the most glaring bugs before release. For instance, the 600MB patch released on the first day for the Adventure Awaits EP was ideal in its cost-effective relationship for EA and all parties involved, but not for the players.
If the revenue from the Sims were invested in the game and related projects (EPs, GP, etc.) in a virtuous loop, the Sims would have a high level of quality. It is not due to incompetence and exploiting the love for the game.
I will sign the petition for the workers, but not for the Sims producers and management if that is even possible.
What’s going on with that Sims movie? Would things get any weirder with there being a film currently in the works? What I mean is they probably share the same franchise name so is the film affected? I’d be concerned with what ideas the movie plans to portray too.
They’re better off shelving it because honestly they’re screwing over the fan base that may have watched it simply because they love the game. And people outside the community (especially those who aren’t into gaming) are less likely to watch. Then add on to what EA is doing and that would likely further impact viewership. To me it would be a financial loss. But honestly since they don’t care about the community or their workers (time and time again) let it be a crap show.
I am not an American, but I do not want KSA getting access to my data. Signed.
Meanwhile I stopped supporting sims streamers/youtubers but strongly supporting their other games’ videos. They need to now that there is revenue in other games.
Signed
It needs to be stopped. Regardless of your stance on the game industry or politics it’s still a national security threat.
Our personal data is a BIG issue. Everyone who plays EA games has an EA account that has all your personal data on their servers. This is F’ed up.