Saudi state money is buying major games companies
Since 2022 Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund has bought across the games business, and in August 2026 it completed the purchase of Electronic Arts. Much of the price was borrowed, and EA now carries the debt.
Latest figure · 2026 so far
$6 billion
The largest deal agreed so far in 2026: Savvy's purchase of Moonton, maker of Mobile Legends, from ByteDance. It had not completed by September 2026.
Where it stands
The Public Investment Fund owns 93.4% of EA, with two smaller partners, and holds it separately from Savvy Games Group, its own games company. EA has told lenders it will cut $700 million a year in costs. Bloomberg reports the fund is weighing a merger of the two, which nobody has confirmed. Naavik's Miikka Ahonen thinks the buying is nearly done, because the money Savvy committed is largely spent. Hard figures on whether the purchases pay their way are thin.
The deals grew from about $1 billion in 2022 to the $55 billion purchase of EA, agreed in 2025. No large deal was agreed in 2024.
*The largest deal agreed so far in 2026: Savvy's purchase of Moonton, maker of Mobile Legends, from ByteDance. It had not completed by September 2026.
SourceGamesIndustry.biz
| Year | Largest deal ($ billions) |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.05 |
| 2023 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | n/a |
| 2025 | 55 |
| 2026* | 6 |
Timeline
2022
A Saudi-owned company buys the two biggest esports organizers
Savvy Games Group, owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, buys ESL Gaming at a valuation of $1.05 billion and buys its rival FaceIt, and merges the two.
Savvy takes a $1 billion stake in Embracer
Savvy buys about 8.1% of the Swedish games group Embracer for $1 billion. The fund already owns 96% of the Japanese developer SNK and holds stakes in Japan's Capcom and the Korean publisher Nexon worth about $1 billion together.
2023
Savvy buys Scopely for $4.9 billion
Savvy agrees to buy Scopely, the American maker of Monopoly Go, for $4.9 billion. The year before, Savvy had announced a games strategy worth $37.8 billion, with about $13 billion set aside to buy a major publisher.
2025
Scopely buys Pokémon Go's maker for $3.5 billion
Scopely, now Saudi-owned, completes its purchase of Niantic's games business, including Pokémon Go, on 29 May 2025.
EA agrees to be bought for $55 billion
Electronic Arts agrees to be bought by the Public Investment Fund, the private equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, at $210 a share. EA calls it the largest deal of its kind. The buyers line up $20 billion of loans, of which $18 billion is expected to be drawn. In a leveraged buyout like this one, the loans become the debts of the company being bought.
A filing shows the Saudi fund will own 93.4% of EA
A filing with Brazil's competition regulator shows how the ownership splits: the Public Investment Fund 93.4%, Silver Lake 5.5% and Affinity Partners 1.1%.
GamesIndustry.biz, Alex Forbes-Calvin, relaying The Wall Street Journal (4 December 2025)
2026
Savvy agrees to buy Moonton for about $6 billion
Savvy agrees to buy Moonton, the Shanghai-based maker of Mobile Legends, from TikTok's owner ByteDance.
EA lays off staff at four Battlefield studios
GamesIndustry.biz relays an IGN report that EA is laying off an unknown number of people at four studios that worked on Battlefield 6, five months after it launched. It was the best-selling game of 2025 in the United States. EA says it made 'select changes' to its Battlefield teams. Its shareholders had already approved the sale.
The EA purchase completes
With every regulator's approval in hand, the deal closes on 4 August 2026 and EA's shares stop trading.
EA tells its lenders it will cut $700 million a year
The day after the deal closes, Polygon relays a Bloomberg report that EA has told its lenders it will cut $700 million from its yearly costs, $170 million of it from what it calls organizational efficiencies. EA now carries $18 billion of debt and owes about $1.8 billion a year in interest.
Savvy's chief executive steps down
Brian Ward, who had run Savvy since it was set up in 2021, steps down about a month after the EA deal closes. Turqi Alnowaiser, a deputy governor of the fund itself, takes over for the time being.
The fund is reported to be weighing a merger of EA and Savvy
Bloomberg reports that the fund is considering combining EA with Savvy, though not before the Moonton purchase completes. The fund and EA declined to comment and Savvy did not respond. It is one outlet's report, from unnamed sources.
Consequences
012026
The debt will be felt later, not now
Nick Button-Brown, an investor who used to work at EA, argues that money spent on interest is money not spent on new games. 'You won't feel it next year, but you will feel it in five years,' he says.
022026
Expect layoffs and harder selling
Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, quoted by the BBC, expects the debt to bring mass layoffs, more aggressive ways of charging players, and other big cost cuts. EA's own figures to its lenders point the same way.
032026
The prize is influence, not profit
George Osborn, who writes on games and politics, tells the BBC that with EA's football and American football games Saudi Arabia owns a soft power asset quietly entrenched in the sporting community. Naavik's analysis agrees that the deals do not add up as a pure investment.
042026
US lawmakers warn the debt makes job cuts likely
Forty-six Democrats in the House of Representatives asked the Federal Trade Commission to review the deal. The debt, they wrote, creates strong incentives for layoffs, moving work abroad and closing studios. EA had already cut more than 1,700 US jobs since 2023.
Objections
Counterpoint2026
The buying may be nearly over
Naavik's Miikka Ahonen argues that the acquisition phase is nearing its end. The $38 billion Savvy committed is largely spent, he writes, and there is no other publisher the size of Scopely left to buy. He also notes that hard data on how the purchases have performed is thin.
Counterpoint2025
The fund is reported to be short of cash
The New York Times reported in November 2025 that the Public Investment Fund was low on cash for new investments. The fund replied that it had $60 billion in cash.
GamesIndustry.biz, Alex Forbes-Calvin, relaying The New York Times (24 November 2025)
Counterpoint2026
Nobody has shown EA changing its games to suit its owner
Players and creators of The Sims feared the new owners would change what the games include. Maxis, the studio that makes The Sims, said in January 2026 that its values, including inclusivity, are unchanged. No reporting so far documents a change made to suit the owners.
Counterpoint2022
The Saudi fund is not the biggest buyer
The largest purchase in games is still Microsoft's. It announced in January 2022 that it would buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, more than the $55 billion paid for EA. No one publishes a ranking of who has spent the most on games companies.
What to watch
2026
Moonton, and then the merger question
Late 2026, when the Moonton purchase is expected to complete. Only after that, Bloomberg's sources say, would the fund decide whether to merge EA into Savvy.
2027
Where EA's $700 million of cuts fall
The year to March 2027, EA's first financial year under its new owners. Watch for where the $700 million of yearly savings promised to lenders comes from.
Further reading
- AnalysisInside Saudi Arabia's $38 Billion Gaming Empirenaavik.co
- ReportingSaudi Arabia's PIF reportedly considering to combine EA with Savvy Games Groupgamesindustry.biz
- ReportingSaudi video game giant Savvy CEO Brian Ward is stepping downbloomberg.com
Where to follow it Naavik, SportBusiness esports desk, Reuters M&A coverage, Esports Insider
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