Electronic Arts employees are fearing the worst after the major publisher closed a deal to end its 37-year run as a public company on August 4, thus shouldering huge new debts.
Shared by Insider Gaming’s Mike Straw on Bluesky, staff layoffs could be imminent after EA was mostly acquired by the Saudi Arabia Private Investment Fund (PIF), which controls the sovereign wealth of the Middle Eastern nation. That fund now owns 93% of the company and will be a major driver of EA’s future decisions, both financially and entertainment-wise.
Straw spoke to multiple EA employees across various studios and heard from some that they fear fresh layoffs will come within the next 12 months. Communication to staff members from EA regarding the security of their positions has been mixed, according to some employees.
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EA closes its $55 billion sale to Saudi Arabia’s PIF next week. The largest leveraged buyout in history, and nobody knows quite what comes next.
EA’s New Heavy Burden: $20 Billion in New Debts
As part of the $55 billion leveraged buyout—the largest in history—EA now has over $20 billion dollars in new debt obligations that place heavy financial pressure on the publisher. Unlike a traditional buyout or merger, leveraged buyouts see the acquirer use large amounts of new debt to secure assets and complete the transaction, which is then directly placed onto the target company’s balance sheet.
With the new debts weighing down the company, there will be an internal push to trim overheads and reduce costs across the publisher’s range of development studios. EA has already cut large numbers of staff in admin roles, mostly based in India and the U.S., with more expected to come in the future.
Communication to staff members from EA regarding the security of their positions has been mixed
Due to the deal’s size and value, it faced multiple objections from regulatory bodies, including the European Commission. However, they cleared the acquisition weeks ago, but the deal was not expected to close before Q2 2027.
CEO Andrew Wilson will remain in post and announced the acquisition in a press release. Wilson promised to “invest boldly, accelerate innovation and build the next generation of games” alongside PIF, the fourth-largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. The fund also holds substantial minority shares in global firms like Nintendo, Take-Two and Capcom.
Staff Face The Axe as Layoffs Become The New Normal
For staff at video game companies globally, anxiety is sky-high as reports of mass layoffs and studio gutting become commonplace—every day it feels like another famed studio has given huge swathes of its developers the chop.
For EA staff, the feeling is no different, especially now with a huge looming debt over the company, which must feel like the blade of a guillotine ready to fall. The company is installing cost-cutting measures across its franchises, even discontinuing support for Apex Legends on some platforms, among other titles.
In 2026 alone, EA axed over 300 employees at studios like Respawn Entertainment, developer of Apex Legends and Titanfall. It also cut staff at Full Circle, the studio in charge of last year’s Skate reboot, which massively underperformed and received dire fan feedback criticizing its heavily monetized live service model. Despite the layoffs, CEO Andrew Wilson still received a healthy $37 million pay packet.
Other publishers have also made moves to shrink staff sizes, with Square Enix announcing last year that it will begin restructuring efforts to focus more of its development power in Japan, where wages are far cheaper. That meant layoffs for staff in overseas studios in the U.S. and the U.K.
The only company that seems to have staved off the need for any layoffs is Nintendo, who have gone from success to success with the launch of its Nintendo Switch 2 console last year. Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aimé spoke about the topic at a recent speaking engagement at New York University, saying the company had held off on going on mass hiring sprees in order to avoid acquiring unneeded staff who would ultimately need to be let go when times get tough.
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