Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is weighing whether to merge Electronic Arts with Savvy Games Group, according to a Bloomberg News report relayed by Reuters on September 10, 2026. The idea would fold EA’s console and PC franchises, including Madden NFL and Battlefield, into the same corporate structure as Savvy’s mobile and esports holdings, which include Scopely and the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang developer Moonton. The report landed five weeks after PIF finished taking EA private in a $55 billion deal, and just days after Savvy’s chief executive, Brian Ward, stepped down.
No merger has been announced, and both Reuters and Bloomberg describe the plan as exploratory, based on people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. Still, the timing is hard to ignore. EA stopped trading on Nasdaq on August 4, 2026, when the PIF-led consortium’s buyout closed. A little over a month later, PIF’s gaming arm lost its CEO and gained a fresh idea for restructuring two of its biggest bets into one company. This article breaks down what is confirmed, what is speculation, and what it would mean for a games industry already reshaped by Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard purchase and Take-Two’s absorption of Zynga.
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What Bloomberg and Reuters Actually Reported on September 10
The core of the story traces to a single Bloomberg News dispatch, cited by Reuters in an article titled “Saudi wealth fund weighs EA-Savvy merger, Bloomberg News reports.” Bloomberg wrote that “Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund is considering combining Electronic Arts Inc. with Savvy Games, people familiar with the matter said, in a deal that would bring blockbuster titles like Madden NFL and Pokemon Go under one roof,” a description that appears to reference Savvy’s broader mobile portfolio rather than a literal Pokemon Go acquisition, since that title is owned by Niantic and Scopely, not EA. Bloomberg also reported that “executives at the Public Investment Fund are weighing plans to create one of the world’s biggest gaming firms to ensure better coordination between its assets, the people said, declining to be identified as the information is confidential.”
Reuters added two important qualifiers. First, no final decision has been reached inside PIF. Second, any combination is considered unlikely to happen until Savvy completes its roughly $6 billion acquisition of Moonton, the Shanghai studio behind Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which ByteDance agreed to sell in March 2026 but which had not finished closing as of the September 10 report. That single detail matters for anyone trying to time this story: the EA-Savvy idea is, by Reuters’ own framing, sequenced behind another multibillion-dollar transaction that is itself still in progress.
Inside the $55 Billion EA Buyout That Set the Stage
To understand why a merger is even on the table, it helps to revisit how EA became a PIF subsidiary in the first place. On September 29, 2025, Electronic Arts announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by a consortium made up of PIF, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, in an all-cash transaction with an enterprise value of approximately $55 billion. EA shareholders were offered $210 per share, and Reuters characterized the transaction as the largest leveraged buyout in history, edging out prior records held by classic private-equity mega-deals.
The financing structure split roughly between $36 billion in equity, including PIF rolling over its existing 9.9% stake in EA, and $20 billion in debt financing fully committed by JPMorgan Chase, with $18 billion of that expected to be funded at close. EU regulators cleared the deal under foreign subsidy rules on July 17, 2026, and under standard merger rules on July 23, 2026. The transaction closed on August 4, 2026, at which point EA stopped being a publicly traded company. Engadget reported that PIF alone now owns more than 93% of Electronic Arts, with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners holding the remainder.
| Deal Term | Figure |
|---|---|
| Enterprise value | Approximately $55 billion |
| Cash paid per share | $210 |
| Equity portion | Approximately $36 billion (includes PIF’s rolled-over 9.9% stake) |
| Debt financing | $20 billion, committed by JPMorgan Chase ($18B funded at close) |
| Lead investors | PIF, Silver Lake, Affinity Partners |
| Announcement date | September 29, 2025 |
| EU merger-rules clearance | July 23, 2026 |
| Deal close / delisting | August 4, 2026 |
| PIF post-close ownership | More than 93%, per Engadget |
Reuters described the deal at the time as “risky mission creep” for a sovereign wealth fund already stretched across giga-projects inside Saudi Arabia, a framing that becomes more relevant now that PIF is reportedly considering bolting a second gaming conglomerate onto the first.
Who Is Savvy Games Group, and What Does It Own?
Savvy Games Group is PIF’s dedicated gaming investment vehicle, built over the past several years to give Saudi Arabia a direct foothold in interactive entertainment rather than relying solely on minority public-market stakes. Its highest-profile acquisitions include Scopely, the mobile publisher behind Monopoly GO! and MARVEL Strike Force, and the esports organizer ESL FACEIT Group. In March 2026, Savvy agreed to acquire Moonton, the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang developer, from ByteDance for roughly $6 billion, a deal that GameDeveloper.com and M&A advisory Del Morgan & Co. ranked among the six largest video game acquisitions on record by April 2026.
When Savvy completed its acquisition of Scopely for $4.9 billion in 2023, PIF’s official announcement quoted Brian Ward, then Savvy’s chief executive, saying: “This is the largest investment Savvy has made to-date, which is testament to our deep belief in Scopely’s mission and their talented, global team led by Walter and Javier.” That deal, along with ESL FACEIT and the pending Moonton acquisition, gives Savvy a mobile-and-esports-heavy portfolio that looks almost nothing like EA’s console-and-PC business, which is exactly why a merger would represent a meaningful structural shift rather than a simple rebrand.
| Savvy Games Group Holding | Deal Size | Status / Segment |
|---|---|---|
| Scopely (Monopoly GO!, MARVEL Strike Force) | $4.9 billion | Closed 2023; mobile publishing |
| ESL FACEIT Group | Not detailed in current reporting | Esports tournaments and platforms |
| Moonton (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang) | Approximately $6 billion | Agreed March 20, 2026; still closing |
| Electronic Arts (via PIF, not Savvy directly) | Approximately $55 billion | Closed August 4, 2026; console/PC publishing |
Brian Ward’s Exit and Turqi Alnowaiser’s Interim Role
The leadership change at Savvy is central to why this story broke when it did. Reuters reported that Savvy’s CEO, Brian Ward, “stepped down last week after overseeing the Saudi-backed group’s global investment and acquisition push,” placing his departure in early September 2026, roughly a month after the EA buyout closed. Yahoo Finance’s coverage of the same Bloomberg report specified that Ward stepped down as CEO in early September, with Turqi Alnowaiser, deputy governor of PIF and head of its international investments division, taking over on an interim basis.
Neither Reuters nor Yahoo Finance reported a negative cause for Ward’s departure, such as misconduct or a policy dispute. The coverage frames it as a leadership transition tied to Savvy’s next phase, which, if the merger idea moves forward, would be integration with EA rather than further standalone acquisitions. Alnowaiser’s dual role, sitting inside PIF’s top investment leadership while also running Savvy day-to-day, positions him as the likely architect of any EA-Savvy combination, though no company has issued an on-the-record statement confirming that a formal process has begun.
Why Merge EA and Savvy Now? PIF’s Strategic Logic
Bloomberg’s reporting frames the rationale in operational terms: PIF wants “better coordination between its assets.” Read plainly, that means Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund now owns two separate, large, independently run gaming organizations, EA and Savvy, each with its own executive team, back-office functions, and acquisition pipeline, and PIF may prefer a single reporting structure instead of duplicating finance, legal, and corporate development staff across both.
There is also a portfolio-balancing argument. EA’s revenue leans heavily on console and PC sports and shooter franchises, while Savvy’s holdings, Scopely and the pending Moonton deal especially, lean mobile-first with live-service, gacha-adjacent monetization. A combined entity would span nearly every major distribution channel in gaming: consoles, PC, mobile app stores, and esports broadcasting through ESL FACEIT. That breadth is precisely what Bloomberg’s sourcing describes as the goal, creating “one of the world’s biggest gaming firms.”
The Regulatory Path: What EU Clearance on EA Signals
Any EA-Savvy combination would likely require its own regulatory review, separate from the scrutiny EA’s original buyout already passed. The European Commission cleared PIF’s acquisition of EA under standard merger rules on July 23, 2026, and Reuters had earlier reported, in a July 17, 2026 exclusive, that PIF was expected to secure EU approval under foreign subsidy rules as well, the mechanism regulators use to examine whether state-backed capital distorts competition. Both reviews concluded without blocking the transaction.
That track record suggests EU regulators are, for now, comfortable treating PIF as a financial owner rather than a state actor exercising improper control over EA’s operations. Whether that comfort extends to a scenario where PIF combines EA with a second, wholly PIF-owned gaming company is an open question. Merging two portfolio companies under common ownership raises different antitrust considerations than a single acquisition, particularly around market concentration in mobile publishing and esports event operations, areas where Savvy already has scale through Scopely and ESL FACEIT.
Competitive Landscape: How This Stacks Up Against Microsoft, Tencent, and Sony
The EA buyout is already being measured against the industry’s other mega-deals. Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard was announced at roughly $68.7 billion and completed at $75.4 billion after adjustments, while Take-Two Interactive’s acquisition of Zynga closed at $12.7 billion. Those figures give useful scale to the $55 billion EA deal and the $6 billion Moonton acquisition Savvy has in progress: PIF’s gaming bets, EA and Savvy combined, already rival or exceed most of what any single publicly traded games company has spent on acquisitions.
| Company / Deal | Deal Value | Status (Sept. 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| PIF-led EA buyout | ~$55 billion | Closed August 4, 2026 |
| Savvy Games Group – Moonton | ~$6 billion | Agreed March 2026, still closing |
| Microsoft – Activision Blizzard | ~$68.7B announced / $75.4B completed | Closed (prior years) |
| Take-Two Interactive – Zynga | ~$12.7 billion | Closed (prior years) |
Unlike Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard purchase, which pulled a public company fully inside another public company’s balance sheet, the EA-Savvy situation involves two already-private, PIF-controlled entities. That means a merger, if it happens, would not require the kind of shareholder vote or public market disclosure that accompanied the Activision Blizzard and Zynga deals. It would largely be an internal restructuring decision made by PIF’s leadership, with regulators as the main external check. Tencent and Sony were not named in the current reporting as commenting on the EA-Savvy story, and no direct statements from either company appear in the coverage reviewed for this article.
Historical Context: A Decade of PIF Gaming Bets
PIF’s interest in gaming did not start with EA. The fund built minority stakes in major publicly traded game companies years before the Savvy vehicle existed, part of a broader strategy under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic diversification program to build non-oil revenue streams, including entertainment and esports. Savvy itself was established specifically to consolidate those ambitions into direct ownership rather than passive shareholding, a shift visible in its sequence of acquisitions: ESL FACEIT for esports infrastructure, Scopely for mobile publishing scale, and now Moonton for a flagship live-service mobile title, a full timeline of which is documented on the Leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts reference page.
Viewed against that backdrop, the EA buyout was not an isolated bet but the largest step yet in a pattern PIF had already been running for years. A potential EA-Savvy merger would represent the next logical step in that same pattern: moving from acquisition to consolidation, turning a collection of separately run gaming assets into a single operating company under PIF’s control.
What Would Happen to EA’s Studios and Franchises
None of the reporting reviewed for this article describes specific plans for EA’s studios, such as DICE or Respawn, under a merged structure. The Bloomberg and Reuters coverage focuses on corporate-level rationale, coordination between assets, not studio-level integration or franchise strategy. BioWare is a separate matter, since EA announced the closure of BioWare’s Edmonton studio on October 21, 2026, independent of the merger idea. Readers should treat any claim about specific EA franchises being folded into Savvy’s mobile pipeline, or vice versa, as speculation until PIF, EA, or Savvy make an official statement.
What is reasonable to infer from the deal’s sequencing is that PIF wants the Moonton acquisition finished first. Reuters explicitly reported that a merger is “unlikely to happen” before that $6 billion deal closes, which suggests PIF does not want to manage three simultaneous integrations, EA’s post-buyout transition, Moonton’s onboarding into Savvy, and an EA-Savvy merger, at the same time.
Industry Voices on the EA and Savvy Deals
Public, on-the-record commentary specifically about the merger idea is limited, since the story rests on anonymous sourcing. But statements tied to the underlying deals help explain PIF’s posture. When EA’s buyout was announced, Turqi Alnowaiser, in his role tied to PIF’s investment in the transaction, said the arrangement would ensure “this partnership will help further drive EA’s long-term growth, while fueling innovation within the industry on a global scale,” according to GameFile’s reporting on the deal.
On the Savvy side, Brian Ward’s 2023 comment on the Scopely acquisition, calling it “the largest investment Savvy has made to-date,” still stands as the clearest public articulation of how the fund thinks about scale before it pursued EA. Bloomberg’s own framing of the merger talks, that PIF wants to “create one of the world’s biggest gaming firms,” is the most direct signal available of the fund’s ambition, even though it comes from unnamed sources rather than a named executive.
Market Impact: Why This Matters Beyond Saudi Arabia
EA is no longer publicly traded, so there is no stock price for investors to react to directly. But the broader games industry still feels ripple effects from a story like this. Studios and developers negotiating with EA now do so knowing their counterparty could restructure again within the year. Competing publishers watching PIF’s approach, buy a major console publisher outright, then consider merging it with a mobile-and-esports arm, may reassess how much capital sovereign wealth funds are willing to commit to gaming, a sector that has already absorbed Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard purchase, Take-Two’s Zynga deal, and a wave of smaller consolidation moves like Supercell’s Metacore buyout in recent years. Gaming ownership disputes are not unique to Saudi-backed vehicles either: South Korea’s own Smilegate has spent 2026 tangled in an ownership fight of its own, a reminder that founder- and state-backed gaming groups everywhere are being forced to sort out who controls what.
There is also a talent and vendor angle. Companies that supply middleware, cloud infrastructure, or marketing services to EA, Scopely, or Moonton could see contract renegotiations if back-office functions consolidate. None of that has been confirmed, but it is the kind of second-order effect that typically follows large corporate mergers once they move from exploratory discussion to formal integration planning.
Predictions: What Could Happen Next
- The Moonton acquisition closes before any formal EA-Savvy merger announcement, consistent with Reuters’ reporting that a combination is “unlikely” before that deal wraps.
- Turqi Alnowaiser’s interim status at Savvy either becomes permanent or a new named CEO is announced once PIF’s broader restructuring plans firm up.
- If a merger proceeds, expect PIF to frame it publicly as an efficiency and coordination move rather than a franchise-integration strategy, mirroring the language already used in Bloomberg’s sourcing.
- Regulators in the EU and potentially other jurisdictions will likely review any formal EA-Savvy merger separately from the original EA buyout clearance, given the change in corporate structure involved.
- Competing publishers and investors will watch PIF’s next move as a signal for how aggressively sovereign wealth capital intends to consolidate gaming assets going forward.
For continuing coverage of console, PC, and mobile gaming business news, see Tech Insider’s gaming hub.
Risks and Open Questions
The biggest risk to this story is that it simply does not happen. Reuters was explicit that no final decision has been made inside PIF, and exploratory internal discussions about restructuring do not always turn into announced transactions. Sovereign wealth funds routinely weigh options that never become public deals, and the anonymous sourcing behind this report, while coming from two credible outlets, leaves room for the plan to change or stall entirely.
A second open question is leadership stability. Savvy has now lost its CEO within roughly a month of EA’s buyout closing, and an interim executive juggling a senior PIF investment role alongside day-to-day oversight of a multibillion-dollar gaming portfolio is not necessarily a long-term arrangement. Whoever eventually leads Savvy, or a combined EA-Savvy entity, will shape how aggressively PIF pursues further consolidation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has the EA-Savvy Games merger been confirmed?
No. Reuters and Bloomberg both describe it as an idea PIF is considering, based on unnamed sources, with no final decision made and no formal announcement from EA, Savvy, or PIF. No definitive decision or completed merger had been publicly announced by October 22, 2026.
When did EA’s $55 billion buyout close?
The deal closed on August 4, 2026, after EU regulators cleared it under both merger rules and foreign subsidy rules in July 2026. EA was delisted from Nasdaq the same day.
Who owns Electronic Arts now?
A consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, alongside Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. Engadget reported PIF alone holds more than 93% of the company.
What is Savvy Games Group?
Savvy Games Group is PIF’s dedicated gaming investment company, which owns Scopely (acquired for $4.9 billion in 2023), the ESL FACEIT esports organization, and has agreed to acquire Moonton, maker of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, for roughly $6 billion, a deal still closing as of September 2026.
Why did Savvy Games CEO Brian Ward step down?
Reuters and Yahoo Finance reported his departure in early September 2026 without citing a negative cause, describing it as a transition following Savvy’s global investment and acquisition push. Turqi Alnowaiser, a PIF deputy governor, is serving as interim CEO.
Would an EA-Savvy merger need regulatory approval?
Likely yes, though no formal filing has been reported. EA’s original buyout required EU clearance under both merger rules and foreign subsidy rules; a merger between two PIF-controlled companies would probably face similar scrutiny given their combined scale in mobile publishing and esports.
How does the EA buyout compare to other major gaming acquisitions?
At roughly $55 billion, it trails Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard purchase (announced around $68.7 billion, completed at $75.4 billion) but is still described by Reuters as the largest leveraged buyout in history, a distinct category from a strategic acquisition by an operating company.
Will EA’s games or studios change under a merger?
Current reporting does not detail any studio-level or franchise-level plans for a merger, although EA separately announced on October 21, 2026 the closure of BioWare’s Edmonton studio and the end of early development on the next Mass Effect game. Coverage of the potential merger focuses on corporate coordination between PIF’s assets, not creative or development strategy.
