By EA, the distributor behind titles such as Battlefield 6 and The Sims 4, is on numerous players’ minds currently following the $55 billion agreement that’s leading the firm to become private – evidently, it’s also on the minds of US senators.
In a recent communication to US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren voiced their apprehensions regarding the deal – one involving Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners purchasing EA. “We write with deep concern about the foreign influence and national security threats posed by the potential acquisition of American video game developer Electronic Arts,” it states.
The message continues, with the two senators initially articulating their worries regarding Saudi Arabia’s role in the deal. “The proposed arrangement presents several significant foreign influence and national security concerns, starting with the PIF’s reputation as a strategic entity of the Saudi government,” they delineate, providing instances of how “the PIF has engaged in numerous strategic investments in sports” and “video gaming,” citing “a $3.3 billion investment in Activision Blizzard.”
According to the senators, these transactions aren’t merely about finances or “financial yields” – they’re “about sway.” They assert that the proposed $55 billion “also signifies a considerable and mostly unwarranted premium over EA’s genuine value: ‘Saudi Arabia’s intent to acquire influence through its purchase of EA is evident from the nature of the transaction – the investors intend to invest over $10 billion more than EA’s trading worth for a firm whose shares have ‘stagnated for half a decade’ in an unpredictably unstable sector.”
Saudi Arabia’s PIF isn’t the sole alarming aspect of the deal, however. The senators also highlight Jared Kushner, whom they remark is a “Trump family member” whose firm “previously secured a $2 billion investment from the PIF despite objections from the PIF’s own investment examination committee.” This, as the officials write, “raises concerning questions about whether Mr. Kushner is participating in the deal merely to assure the federal government’s endorsement of the arrangement.”
They emphasize that it aligns with the Trump administration’s unprecedented corruption and monetization of federal government authority, ‘What regulator is going to refuse the president’s son-in-law?'” The senators then revert to Saudi Arabia’s involvement, indicating that its “foreign sway” in the US could be exacerbated by its government’s newfound access to EA’s users – numbering in the millions.
“The prospective deal’s capacity to augment and bolster Saudi foreign influence in the United States is compounded by the national security dangers raised by the Saudi government’s access to and unchecked control over the sensitive personal data collected from EA’s millions of users, its development of artificial intelligence (AI) innovations, and the firm’s product design and direction,” the letter states.
“Contemporary video games,” it continues, “like social media platforms, ‘have the ability to gather immense amounts of users’ personal and behavioral data’ through various interactive and communication features.” Noting “at least 700 million that spent over 13 billion hours engaging with its games in 2024 alone,” the senators elaborate that EA “possesses ‘insight into its consumers, their relationships, and their daily activities,” enabling it to “influence its consumers’ perceptions and preferences.”
Such “unfettered access” by what the two call “a repressive, authoritarian regime” could incur “significant potential risks of surveillance of Americans, covert Saudi propaganda, and selective retaliation and censorship of individuals disfavored by the Saudi government.” AI further complicates matters, as it “poses additional hazards should Saudi Arabia, which has sought to position itself as an AI leader, gain access to EA’s research, work output, and user information.”
Without “meaningful mitigation measures,” the senators believe “the PIF’s privatization of EA threatens to eradicate transparency regarding the company’s operations.” They conclude, “In summary, the Saudi government’s capability to exert its influence through EA would furnish the authoritarian regime with an effective mechanism to project power globally,” citing analyst Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat.
“Saudi Arabia clearly understands the political and cultural sway of video games, particularly among younger audiences.”
It’s a lot to digest, but to be entirely fair, the senators aren’t alone in their concerns regarding the acquisition. Gamers themselves, including noted content creators within The Sims 4 community and beyond, have described the agreement as “extremely alarming” – and developers, too, have