Electronic Arts employees have voiced concerns that the company's new Saudi Arabian-backed owners could influence which games get made, fearing that projects seen as not aligning with the Saudi government's values may struggle to get approved. The worry follows the completion of a roughly $55 billion buyout of EA by a consortium including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history, which handed the kingdom significant influence over one of the world's biggest games publishers.

Staff quoted anonymously said they fear a chilling effect on development, with one reportedly warning that "projects just won't get signed because they don't align explicitly with what the Saudi government wants." The anxiety centres on Saudi Arabia's conservative stance on issues such as LGBTQ+ representation, alcohol, gambling and other content it restricts domestically, raising questions about whether EA's future titles, including franchises like The Sims, Battlefield and its sports games, could face internal pressure to avoid certain themes or characters.