A group of lawmakers in the United States have urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to review the proposed acquisition of EA by Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF and other investors.
Labor Caucus co-chairs Reps. Steven Horsford, Debbie Dingell, Mark Pocan, and Donald Norcross led over 40 House Democrats in signing a letter calling on FTC chair Andrew Ferguson to scrutinize the take-private deal over concerns it could warp the balance of power within the video game industry.
Labor Caucus is comprised of over 120 members of congress focused on “advancing the needs of working people and the labor movement in Congress.”
The letter was sent on January 22 and suggests the debt-financed $55 billion acquisition, which will purportedly result in PIF holding a 93.4 percent stake in the Battlefield and Apex Legends publisher, will incentive layoffs, offshoring, studio closures, and other cost-cutting measures.
It notes that EA is currently one of the largest employers in the United States’ video game industry, and post-acquisition would be able to expand its market dominance to the detriment of workers.
“The FTC’s 2023 Merger Guidelines make clear that mergers harming workers, suppressing wages, or enabling dominant firms to reduce labor demand may violate antitrust laws. Given the scale of this acquisition and EA’s current dominance over the domestic video-game labor market, we believe careful scrutiny of this deal is essential,” reads the letter.
“The transaction also raises serious concerns about interlocking directorates and common ownership across competing game publishers. This kind of overlap heightens the risk of coordinated anti-labor practices, including wage suppression, hiring restrictions, or informal no-poach dynamics and could further weaken the already limited bargaining power workers have in this industry. These risks should weigh heavily as the Commission evaluates whether the acquisition would leave workers more vulnerable to coordinated or unilateral harms.”
Could EA be used to pursue the “geopolitical objectives” of its new owners?
EA has made significant layoffs in recent years, but recently suggested the proposed buyout won’t result in “immediate” job cuts. The company also claimed it will retain creative control under its prospective new owners.
Despite those assertions, calls to scrutinze the deal have previously been echoed by U.S. labor union Communications Workers of America. Two U.S. senators, Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren, have also raised concerns of their own.
PIF—which is owned by the Saudi state and chaired by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman—has made a number of major investments across the game industry.
Last year, the wealth fund acquired Pokemon Go maker Niantic (though its Savvy Games subsidiary) and has previously sunk cash into Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive, Embracer Group, and more.
The organization has been widely-criticized as a vehicle for culture-washing, with Human Rights Watch reporting that PIF has directly “facilitated and benefited from human rights abuses.”
According to human rights advocacy group, Amnesty International, those abuses include a crackdown on free speech, discrimination against women and members of the LGBTQ community, the abuse of migrant workers, and more.
PIF chairman Mohammed bin Salman, the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, was also linked to the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
As noted by the BBC, bin Salman was still facing questions over his connection to the killing as recently as November 2025, when he was quizzed by journalists during a meeting with US president Donald Trump at the White House.
Last year, expert analysts spoke to Game Developer about the seismic deal and warned it could result in closer oversight from owners “pursuing geopolitical objectives.”