It's official: EA is going private.

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Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ampersandrew@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3lzxzk5aifs2w

In a deal involving a company owned by Jared Kushner, a company that is basically just the Saudis, and $20B of debt.

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Kyrgizion@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Luckily EA hasn’t published anything I care about in over a decade. No big loss.

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- DaddleDew@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  EA has been dead to me since the mid 2000’s when they turned Battlefield 2, which I had purchased at full price, into a severely unbalanced Pay-To-Win game.
  
  It only went downhill since then.
  
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  - HereIAm@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Do in remember right that the special forces add-on was an online only purchase? I’m pretty sure the euro forces one was at least. I remember not having the new weapons for a long time until I could log in to my account on a friends computer with it installed.
    
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- gerryflap@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  As a big Star Wars fan this hurts though. The Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor games where my favorite Star Wars content after Andor since Disney took over. I was looking forward to the last game in the trilogy. But I don’t want these people to get any money and I’m also afraid that the project will be affected anyways :/
  
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ghosthacked@lemmy.wtf ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
For a preview of what happens, look at the embracer buyouts. This is essentially a funeral

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- dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Yup. Or Toys R Us, or Debenhams (UK), or any other number of LBOs which led to the death of the company.
  
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LordOfLocksley@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
So how long before the private equity firms strip mine EA for all it’s worth, and force it to rent back it’s offices, which force it to bankruptcy?

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- frongt@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  What do you mean “before”? This right now is the start of that.
  
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  - Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I think they were asking for a timeline… you gotta start the popcorn at just the right time so it’s nice and hot when shit starts to get good… you don’t want it during the previews.
    
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nocturne@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
A link too the article in the skeet. businesswire.com/…/EA-Announces-Agreement-to-be-A…

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- ampersandrew@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  It was pretty dry, so I opted for the skeet instead.
  
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RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
The idea of playing a new Mass Effect owned by Jared Kushner.

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taiyang@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I was thinking about this deal and… I guess it makes sense the Saudis want in on the gaming industry. I recall a long while ago an old article about the industry (probably second hand via Polygon) that noted just how much Saudis whale on mobile and loot box games. It was so disproportionate, their nobility was like 2% of a mobile title’s revenue… literally just a few big families.

So my thinking is, EA, being the kind of shitty company it is, is actually probably pretty popular among Saudi nobility. That and FIFA, of course — imagine pay to win when you have infinite money.

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- skisnow@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I’m more cynical than that, I think it’s that Kushner and the Saudis have both identified gamers as a group susceptible to be influenced by auth-right messaging, and they want a piece of that.
  
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- NoodlePoint@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Makes me think why Houthis and the Iranians hate them.
  
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- ceiphas@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  They lost the FIFA games…
  
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  - DacoTaco@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    “Lost” They lost the fifa name, but fc is basically the same, and it still has all the players and club’s in it soooo… Its just a name change sadly
    
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hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Could it be that these guys are going to “Where are we going, Papa EA?” them in a few years?

(Can’t find a link to the references comic on my phone but basically EA is known for buying up smaller studios and then closing them only a few years later after sucking them dry. This led to a comic of them taking little unsuspecting companies into the dark woods to end them.)

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- vateso5074@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  
  Can’t find a link to the referenced comic
  
  Got you covered, fam.
  
  Image
  
  There’s other versions around as well and I have no idea which is the original. Just replace “Bioware” with any studio that EA has purchased and chances are there is a version of this comic that followed that news.
  
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Hermit_Lailoken@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I won be purchasing anything EA.

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TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Rest in peace Mass Effect.

Old BioWare did splinter into Archetype and are working on “Exodus.” I am not yet sold, but looks more like a harder sci-fi, since traveling at near FTL is actually one way time travel.

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- brucethemoose@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Hard, relatavistic sci fi can still get super weird, see: www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/48545a0f6352a
  
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  - WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Or Gundam.
    
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Senf@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
EA has not been able to send the Auth Codes 2-factor to my e-mail with my own domain for ages.

The support (probably AI) sends me a link to a support article about 2-factor authorisation every time. EXACTLY THE ARTICLE WHERE YOU HAVE TO SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO CONTACT SUPPORT.

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MyDarkestTimeline01@ani.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
So THAT’S why they allowed Battlefield 6 to be so good. Had to pump up those player interest numbers.

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obinice@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
R.I.P Mass Effect.

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- tatann@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  It’s resting since 2012, not peacefully though :/
  
  They first zombified it in 2017 and now they’re poking its corpse every few years on the 7th of november
  
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Master@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Meme:

Ea: was I a good game company.

Grim Reaper: No!

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13igTyme@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Weird how everyone is mad or upset about EA going out of business. I look at this as a positive. EA makes 90% shit games and 10% games that are unique or could be good that I refuse to buy on the grounds that it is still owned by EA.

If the few decent IPs get sold off to a different company I might actually buy it as long as it’s not one of the other mega shit companies. At least now there’s a chance.

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Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
You can bid the chance of having (good) Mass Effect games good bye.

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- sbbq@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Pretty sure that ship sailed like 10 years ago.
  
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  - TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I liked Andromeda.
    
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- TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  This is apparently a game made by some of the old guard at BioWare.
  
  Reminds me a bit of Andromeda mixed with ME1. Less focus on being part of a military organization from what I see.
  
  www.exodusgame.com/en-US
  
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HugeNerd@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Wait, can I still play Skate or Die! on my Commodore 64?

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someguy3@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Wow did not see this coming. Saudi Arabia is desperate to diversify so from that angle it makes sense. Kushner wants in lol. That’s a big buyout though. Well, things are going to get weird.

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CosmoNova@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
So basically EA got tired of watching Ubisoft and Nintendo fight over who is worse and dropped a nuke.

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But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
What difference does this make honestly? They’re already a shit company, what do I care who owns them?

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Tronn4@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
EA, Its not in the game

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Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Had an EA Play so I could play NHL and FIFA, and the occasional ME Trilogy replay. Canceled it the moment the news broke about Kushner and the Saudis. Had paid for the year and was willing to sacrifice the final five months in the name of morality. But luckily they refunded me the difference.

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mintiefresh@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Damn, it really happened. Crazy.

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drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
So romance options…

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- Skullgrid@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  HAH! the sims is about to get nuked
  
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- Eyck_of_denesle@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  They will be fine. Y’all need to choose a side. MBS himself had to step in to make sure this deal happened when officials stooped it as it was investing in Israeli companies too. He doesn’t give af about shariah.
  
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plsnerf7@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Right before bf6… well o7

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skisnow@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
It’ll be interesting seeing how the worst games company manages to find a way to become even worse.

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vane@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Take Two is next.

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PissingIntoTheWind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Why is an anti-Semitic meme the picture for this post? Did a Jewish CEO buy the company?

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- Piwix@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  That’s the profile picture for the reporter’s bluesky post that this links to.
  
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  - PissingIntoTheWind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Saw that. I thought the article poster was being racist.
    
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- Jax@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Dude what?
  
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  - PissingIntoTheWind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Nevermind it’s the reporters selfie. I thought this was a racist joke against EA.
    
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VerseAndVermin@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
How much couch money do I need to acquire Westwood’s NoX out of this?

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damon@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I wonder if there’s any entities that they do partnerships with that have provisions in their contracts against this, curious if the sports leagues do. They’re notoriously protective of their IPa and rights

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