Saudi Arabia’s $55 billion EA Sports bet on global influence
From sportswashing to gamewashing, the kingdom targets time, attention, and identity.
$55 billion is the price tag attached to the most dramatic gaming deal the industry has ever seen. Electronic Arts shareholders approved the Saudi-backed bid, making the company the target of one of the largest leveraged buyouts ever attempted in digital entertainment, and the second-largest gaming deal on record, after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
But focusing on the numbers misses the real story. This deal marks a shift from an era in which gaming companies were treated primarily as commercial entertainment businesses to one in which they are viewed as strategic assets: not just sources of profit, but cultural platforms with a profound influence on the habits, identities, and consciousness of entire generations. In such a world, virtual football can be as influential, if not more so, than real football.
The War for the Mind
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has built an aggressive presence in global sports. Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Newcastle United, and others have become part of what critics describe as sportswashing, an effort to rebrand the kingdom as a global entertainment hub while diverting attention from its human rights record.
The acquisition of EA represents a more advanced step in the same strategy, one that operates largely under the radar. If a football match lasts 90 minutes, playing EA Sports FC can consume hundreds of hours each year. For Gen Z and Gen Alpha, games are not simply products; they are social spaces, places to meet, communicate, build identity, and have fun.
When Saudi Arabia buys EA, it is not just acquiring code and studios. It is purchasing premium real estate in the living rooms, and minds, of hundreds of millions of young people in the West. This is not merely content control, but a persistent presence. Not sportswashing, but gamewashing: a deeper, longer-lasting form of influence that rarely feels like propaganda.
This strategy sits at the heart of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030. Oil may one day run out, but demand for digital entertainment is only growing. Through EA, Saudi Arabia is seeking to transform itself from an energy exporter into a cultural one, projecting wealth, values, and presence directly onto screens around the world.
The Leverage Trap
The less glamorous side of the deal lies in its financial structure. It is a leveraged buyout, with roughly $20 billion financed through debt that will be placed on EA’s own balance sheet.
Not every leveraged buyout stifles innovation. In some cases, private ownership frees companies from the pressures of quarterly reporting and enables long-term thinking. But in EA’s case, the combination of massive debt, a volatile industry, and heavy dependence on the success of individual titles makes the risk unusually high.
Debt must be serviced. Interest must be paid. In such conditions, creative freedom is often the first casualty. A healthy gaming company needs financial breathing room: the ability to invest five years in a new IP even if it ultimately fails, to experiment, and to take risks. Heavy leverage sharply reduces that margin for error, and with it, the appetite for innovation.
The concern is that new ownership could lead to an aggressive extraction model: fewer creative bets, greater reliance on proven franchises, increasingly predatory monetization through microtransactions, and relentless cost-cutting, including studio closures and layoffs.
The End of the Age of Independence
For decades, EA was one of the last major independent players in the AAA gaming industry, neither a console maker’s subsidiary nor a tech giant’s arm. It may have been viewed as a “villain” by gamers, but it was an independent villain.
This sale drives another nail into the coffin of industry independence. After Microsoft absorbed Activision Blizzard and Sony acquired Bungie, gaming has become more centralized than ever.
What sets this deal apart is the identity of the buyer. This is not a strategic acquisition designed to strengthen a technology ecosystem or a streaming platform, but a blend of state capital, financial leverage, and geopolitical ambition. The participation of Jared Kushner’s investment fund adds yet another political dimension with an American imprint. An industry once obsessed with resolution and frame rates is now embedded in the power politics of global superpowers.
For fans of The Sims or Battlefield, the near-term outlook may appear stable: capital is available, infrastructure is maintained, and familiar franchises will continue to operate. Over the long term, however, the deal raises deeper questions about the direction of the gaming industry itself.
Gaming as a Geopolitical Asset
Saudi Arabia is not acting in isolation. The EA acquisition fits into a broader shift in which the global gaming industry, valued at roughly $180-200 billion, according to Newzoo, is evolving from an entertainment market into a field of geopolitical significance. Governments and sovereign wealth funds increasingly recognize gaming as a strategic cultural asset and are seeking positions within it.
China was among the first to grasp this dynamic. Tencent, operating in close alignment with Beijing’s interests, holds significant stakes, or outright control, in numerous Western studios, including Riot Games and Supercell, as well as a major shareholding in Epic Games. These investments are not merely financial; they represent a sustained presence in global popular culture, even amid political tension and regulatory constraints.
Gulf states have followed suit. The United Arab Emirates is cultivating a gaming ecosystem through incentives, regulation, and e-sports events; Qatar is integrating gaming into a broader sports and entertainment strategy; and smaller states like Bahrain are positioning themselves as regulatory and technology hubs.
Japan, by contrast, continues to pursue a cautious and insular model. Sony and Nintendo tightly control intellectual property and user experience, viewing gaming as a cultural asset as much as a commercial one, something to be protected from dilution or loss of identity.
Against this backdrop, Saudi Arabia’s move stands apart. It is not exporting a long-standing gaming tradition or technological legacy, but acquiring influence through capital. By buying its way into the industry, the kingdom is compressing timelines and positioning itself at the center of one of the world’s most powerful cultural arenas. Gaming, perhaps more than any other medium, has become the space where money, culture, and state interests collide, reshaping who holds real influence over the next generation.
