After announcing its $55 billion acquisition of EA in September 2025, the European Union is reportedly set to approve Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) purchase at the end of July, according to new reporting from Reuters.
As Reuters reported on July 17, people familiar with the deal said Saudi Arabia's PIF will secure the EU's approval under EU subsidy rules. This means that, after the EU completes its preliminary review under its Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) on July 22, the purchase will reportedly be cleared to go through on July 30. All told, the deal is expected to win unconditional EU clearance under merger rules.
The FSR is meant to prevent non-European subsidies from distorting competition in the EU's internal market. However, as Reuters reported earlier this month, the FSR received tons of criticism that the regulation was too bureaucratic. Now, with the FSR essentially being moved aside by the European Commission--the EU's competition enforcer--Saudi Arabia's PIF is seemingly poised to acquire EA.
Rumors of the deal swirled in September 2025, which saw Saudi Arabia’s PIF, the private-equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners all involved in the purchase. While EA admitted in November 2025 that there's a risk of selling to Saudi Arabia, the company confirmed that it would still "maintain creative control" going forward. However, in December 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that a majority of EA's control would shift to Saudi Arabia's PIF after the purchase gets finalized. The deal has riled gamers since, prompting cosplayers to raid EA's California headquarters in protest.
Should everything go as planned--and it reportedly sounds like it all will--this acquisition will be the second-largest gaming buyout ever after Microsoft's $75.4 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October 2023.
