EA is preparing to go private, as the veteran video game company will be sold for an eye-watering sum of $55 billion to an investor consortium made up of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, and the private equity firm Silver Lake. While this deal will require regulator approval and a sign-off by stockholders, EA is expecting the deal to be completed in Q1 FY27.
A privately owned EA could be a very different company when compared to its public incarnation, and it will also have to work off $20 billion of new debt that is being used to finance the buyout. So what does $55 billion buy you these days? Quite a lot, as EA’s potential new owners will be acquiring studios, brands, and much more. Here’s a broad overview of all things EA
EA’s various entertainment studios
EA has built up a sizable collection of studios under its portfolio, and several of these have become responsible for EA’s biggest hits. Criterion Games has developed several Need for Speed titles, DICE is best known for its work on the Battlefield series, and Maxis made a name for itself with The Sims.
Then there’s Motive Studio–a developer that has alternated between being a support studio and working on big projects like Star Wars: Squadrons and the Dead Space remake–PopCap Games has developed several popular mobile titles, and Respawn Entertainment has been responsible for several of EA’s best single-player games in the modern era.
BioWare has a storied history, but after mass layoffs at the Mass Effect and Dragon Age studio, it’s not certain what state the famed studio is in. Work on a new Mass Effect game has been going on for several years now, but the high-profile flop of Anthem and underwhelming sales for Dragon Age: The Veilguard have left people wondering what its future looks like under a privately owned EA.
The studios listed above are just the tip of the EA iceberg, as the company also has Skate developer Full Circle, EA Gothenburg, Codemasters, and even more subsidiaries.
EA Entertainment
- BioWare (Includes BioWare Austin)
- Criterion Games (Includes Criterion Cheshire)
- DICE (Includes Frostbite Labs)
- EA Baton Rouge
- EA Galway in Galway, Ireland.
- EA Gothenburg
- EA Korea Studio
- EA Capital Games
- EA Redwood Studios
- Firemonkeys Studios
- Glu Mobile
- Playdemic
- Slingshot Games
- Tracktwenty Studios
- Full Circle
- Maxis (Includes Maxis Texas and Maxis Europe)
- Motive Studio (Includes Motive Studio Vancouver)
- Pogo Studios
- PopCap Games (Includes PopCap Shanghai and PopCap Hyderabad)
- Respawn Entertainment (Includes Respawn Vancouver and Respawn Wisconsin)
- Ripple Effect Studios
EA Sports
The other jewel in the EA crown is its EA Sports division. Anchored by titles with annual soccer, Madden NFL, PGA Tour, and NHL games, recent years have also seen these respective titles become even more lucrative with live-service and online elements added to them.
EA Sports studios
- Codemasters (Includes Codemasters Birmingham and Codemasters Kuala Lumpur)
- EA Cologne
- EA Madrid
- EA Orlando
- EA Romania
- EA Vancouver
- Metalhead Software
Big game franchises
Throughout its existence, EA has amassed a sizable number of video game IP under its banner. Sure, a lot of these franchises like Army of Two and Titanfall haven’t received new entries in years, but ownership of them is still potentially lucrative in an age of transmedia projects. Then there are the licensed IP that EA has worked on, with several Star Wars games under its belt–and more on the way–collaborations with smaller studios that have resulted in critically acclaimed games like Split Fiction being released under the EA Originals label, and various sports games that feature hundreds of official licensing deals to make them as authentic as possible.
- Battlefield
- Need for Speed
- Medal of Honor
- Madden Football
- EA Sports FC
- The Sims
- Mirror’s Edge
- Titanfall
- Apex Legends
- Mass Effect
- Dragon Age
- Dead Space
- Plants vs Zombies
- Command and Conquer
- Skate
- Army of Two
- Bejeweled
- Peggle
EA All Play
EA’s mobile-focused label, this part of the company is also involved in digital titles and digital board games.
EA Competitive Gaming Division
Founded in 2015, the EA CGD focuses on growing esports competitions through games like EA Sports FC and Battlefield.
SEED
The Search for Extraordinary Experiences Division is EA’s incubator for research and development on new technologies, with offices based in Los Angeles and Stockholm.
EA Platforms and services
In addition to its PC distribution EA App, there’s also the subscription service EA Play that’s available as a standalone service or as part of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription.
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