EA’s $55 Billion Buyout Is Closing on August 4, 2026, as Arrowhead’s CEO Fears a Sequel-First Future
Shams Jorjani said the publisher's breadth, from Battlefield and The Sims to Split Fiction and Unravel, could be at risk if the new owners favor only the safest franchises.
Electronic Arts’ $55 billion buyout is closing on August 4, 2026, placing the publisher under the ownership of an investor group led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The deal will take EA private and has already raised questions about the future of its studios and wide-ranging catalog.
Shams Jorjani, CEO of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, is concerned that new ownership could favor predictable franchise returns over the variety that has defined EA for years. He argued that business diversity matters alongside creative diversity, since publishers operating at different scales can afford to take different kinds of risks.
Jorjani pointed to Battlefield, The Sims, and Mass Effect as major releases that sit alongside smaller or less conventional projects such as Split Fiction and Unravel. He also highlighted older games including C&C Generals and SimCity 2000, which remain part of the publisher’s long history.
His concern is that the new owners could prioritize sequels and mega-franchises at the expense of original ideas. Jorjani remains hopeful that EA will preserve its range, but he sees a future built around only the safest commercial bets as a major loss for one of the industry’s broadest catalogs.
The buyout has also brought wider concerns about possible restructuring, layoffs, studio closures, foreign influence, and national security. Human Rights Watch has accused Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund of using investments in sports and entertainment to whitewash the country’s human rights record, as detailed in Human Rights Watch’s country report on Saudi Arabia.
Arrowhead has also discussed expanding Helldivers 2 before moving to Helldivers 3, including eight-player missions and larger maps. That approach lines up with Jorjani’s broader preference for giving studios room to build on distinctive ideas instead of sending every project toward the same sequel-focused formula.
EA’s new ownership will have to show that its biggest franchises can coexist with riskier ideas. Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram.
