Electronic Arts leaves the Nasdaq, marking the end of an era for the video game industry
Electronic Arts (EA) is leaving the Nasdaq and coming under the control of a consortium led by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF. The deal is worth $55 billion. Shareholders will receive $210 in cash per share. Alongside Riyadh are Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, the fund led by Jared Kushner.
The deal gives Saudi Arabia one of the most recognisable brands in digital entertainment. But it also tells us something more: about the transformation – and perhaps the crisis – of the global video games industry.
Electronic Arts was founded in 1982 following an idea by Trip Hawkins, a former Apple employee. The name reflected a cultural vision: to regard programmers as artists and software as a form of expression. The early packaging was reminiscent of record sleeves. The developers were shown on the covers. The computer became a machine for telling stories.
EA then went on to become a US entertainment giant. It has created or acquired franchises such as The Sims, Need for Speed*, Battlefield, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Apex Legends*. Above all, it has transformed sport into video games. Apart from NBA basketball, where 2K’s NBA 2K series is now the undisputed leader, most successful sports games are published by EA. In Italia and around the world, football is synonymous with FIFA, now known as EA Sports FC, and, at least for us, it has remained the best-selling title for decades.
FIFA is an expensive but powerful machine. Every year, squads, kits and statistics change. Under the bonnet lies an economy built on updates, subscriptions, digital packs and microtransactions. The video game is almost always the same, but it has to stay running, drive traffic and generate revenue.
