Electronic Arts quietly announced in an SEC filing that it has obtained all necessary regulatory approvals for the planned $55 billion buyout by a Consortium of investors, including PIF , Silver Lake Group , and Affinity Partners , with the following planned stakes: 93.4% PIF, 5.5% Silver Lake Group, and 1.1% Affinity Partners. The plan is to go forward with the closing on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 .

As previously disclosed, on September 28, 2025, Electronic Arts Inc. (“Electronic Arts” or the “Company”) entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) by and among the Company, Oak-Eagle AcquireCo, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Parent”), and Oak-Eagle MergerCo, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of Parent (“Merger Sub”).

The Merger Agreement provides that, subject to the terms and conditions set forth therein, Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company (the “Merger”), with the Company surviving the Merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent. Parent and Merger Sub are entities formed by an investor consortium comprised of The Public Investment Fund (“PIF”), private investment funds affiliated with Silver Lake Group, L.L.C. (“Silver Lake”) and private investment funds affiliated with Affinity Partners (“Affinity,” and, together with PIF and Silver Lake, the “Consortium”).

As of July 30, 2026, all regulatory approvals required to complete the Merger have been obtained. Electronic Arts currently expects the Merger to close on or about the close of trading on August 4, 2026.

That's the day EA will go private again. The publisher originally went public with an $84 million IPO on January 9, 1989, seven years after its foundation.

EA had just launched its EA Sports brand with John Madden Football , creating a long-term recurring revenue engine based on realistic sports simulations that endures to this day. Over time, Electronic Arts diversified. The acquisition of Maxis was pivotal, as The Sims franchise remains one of the publisher's most profitable. Between 2004 and 2007, EA also acquired Burnout developer Criterion Games , Battlefield developer DICE , and RPG developer BioWare .

The first two are now essentially merged in Battlefield Studios, while the third, after a few successes like the first three Mass Effect and Dragon Age games, has repeatedly stumbled with games like Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age: Veilguard. In fact, BioWare developers are reportedly very worried about this acquisition , as they might be in serious danger of big job cuts or even a studio closure.

On paper, going private should put less pressure on Electronic Arts studios to deliver at the quarterly cadence that public investors normally expect. Whether that's actually the case remains to be seen.

In other EA news, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson took a massive pay increase due to Battlefield 6's performance , even as the studios that made the game were hit by layoffs.

About the author : With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.

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