Electronic Arts, the maker of The Sims, Madden NFL and Battlefield, has been bought by a Saudi-led investor group for $55bn (£41bn), one of the largest buyouts on record. The deal, completed on Tuesday evening after the EU granted final regulatory approval, takes EA private and ends its 36-year run as a publicly listed company. It reflects growing Gulf investment in gaming as EA grapples with stagnating revenues and intensifying competition from mobile developers.

The buyers are Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Affinity Partners (run by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law) and Silver Lake Partners. EA, founded in 1982 and led by chief executive Andrew Wilson since 2013, has seen annual revenue plateau between $7.4bn and $7.6bn, while rival Activision Blizzard was bought by Microsoft for almost $69bn in 2023. The company cut around 5% of its workforce in 2024 and several hundred more jobs in May, and this week reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenues, blamed partly on falling engagement with its latest Battlefield title. Going private frees EA from quarterly reporting requirements, though no job cuts have been announced as part of the deal.