Electronic Arts workers, in conjunction with the video game union United Videogame Workers-CWA Local 9433, have released a public statement criticizing the Saudi Arabia-led buyout of the company and calling for regulatory scrutiny.
The statement—crafted in part by the CWA and EA employees who have signed up for membership with the industry-wide union UVW-CWA— argues that the deal jeopardizes workers at the company who have already spent two years enduring layoffs and studio closures. EA has informed workers that “no immediate layoffs” will take place upon the completion of the buyout, but those assurances come from a company that said it was primed for “accelerated growth” after gutting hundreds of jobs.
“EA is not a struggling company,” the unnamed workers said in their statement. “EA’s success has been entirely driven by tens of thousands of EA workers whose creativity, skill, and innovation made EA worth buying in the first place. Yet we, the very people who will be jeopardized as a result of this deal, were not represented at all when this buyout was negotiated or discussed.”
The statement lays out concerns that studios deemed “less profitable,” but whose work defines EA’s reputation, could be on the chopping block. Citing reporting from our own Nicole Carpenter, they asked what will be done to pay off the $20 billion in debt secured for the transaction by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Affinity Partners, the firm owned by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump.
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“If jobs are lost or studios are closed due to this deal, that would be a choice, not a necessity, made to pad investors’ pockets—not to strengthen the company,” they said.
EA buyout stakeholder Jared Kushner already advises key regulator Scott Bessent
The statement lands a day after US senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal sent strongly-worded letters to U.S. treasury secretary and Committee of Foreign Investment chair Scott Bessent and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson expressing concern for “foreign influence” as a result of the deal. That influence could include “surveillance of Americans, covert Saudi propaganda, and selective retaliation and censorship of persons disfavored by the Saudi government.”
The pair urged Bessent and other regulators to conduct a “thorough investigation” of the transaction. EA workers and the CWA echoed this message in a call for elected officials and regulators to exert similar scrutiny and “ensure that any path forward protects jobs, preserves creative freedom, and keeps decision-making accountable to the workers who make EA successful.”
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They followed this with comment that regulators and elected officials “won’t save” the video game industry. This comment is particularly relevant given Kushner’s close relationship with Bessent. According to the Wall Street Journal, Kushner advised Bessent during ongoing trade negotiations with China.
The union argued that game developers—particularly those at EA—will be the only ones who can save the industry. “Organizing is the only thing that guarantees workers a real voice when ownership changes hands, and it’s the only way to ensure that the people who make video games have a say in how they’re run,” they wrote.
“The value of video games is in their workers. As a unified voice, we, the members of the industry-wide video game workers’ union UVW-CWA, are standing together and refusing to let corporate greed decide the future of our industry.”
Game Developer has reached out to EA for comment and will update this story when a response is issued.