Electronic Arts is days away from going private. The video game publisher disclosed in an 8-K filing that it has received all necessary regulatory approvals for its proposed US$55 billion acquisition, with the deal expected to close on 4 August (Eurogamer, 31 July 2026).

The leveraged buyout — a takeover financed largely with borrowed money, repaid against the acquired company's assets — brings together three buyers: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the US private equity firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, whose chief executive Jared Kushner is the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump (Eurogamer, 31 July 2026).

EA first announced the agreement in September 2025, framing it as a path to long-term investment without the quarterly pressures of public markets. Shareholders voted to approve the merger in December. Since then, the deal has cleared its two principal regulatory gates: the European Commission and the US Federal Trade Commission both signed off (Eurogamer, 31 July 2026). EA's own Q4 and full-year FY26 results, published in May 2026, referenced the regulatory progress on the transaction.

A few steps remain. Completion is still subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions — the standard legal and financial checkboxes that must be ticked before money changes hands (Eurogamer, 31 July 2026). Once the deal closes, EA's common stock will no longer trade on any public exchange, returning the company behind FIFA (now EA Sports FC), Apex Legends, and The Sims to private ownership after decades as a publicly listed firm (EA press release, September 2025).

The road has not been entirely smooth. Purported EA stockholders filed lawsuits against the company following the merger announcement, as disclosed in a Form 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Details of those suits and their current status have not been publicly updated since the filing.

For players, the immediate question is what changes — and the honest answer is that private ownership rarely alters a game line-up overnight. What it does change is who EA answers to. Public companies report to shareholders every quarter, justifying spending, headcount, and release timing to investors who can sell at any moment. A private EA, backed by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, answers to three owners with their own strategies and timelines.

EA chief executive Andrew Wilson received roughly US$38 million in bonus payments and company stock in the last financial year (Eurogamer, 31 July 2026). Whether his compensation structure changes under private ownership has not been disclosed.

The deal stands as one of the largest private takeovers of a video game company. Microsoft's US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, completed in 2023 after a protracted regulatory battle, set the upper benchmark. EA's buyout, if it closes on 4 August as expected, will sit just below it — and will shift one of the industry's most familiar names off the public markets and into the hands of sovereign wealth and private capital.