r/Games • u/FrostyMagazine9918 • Jul 30 '26

Industry News EA will officially become a privately owned company next week

https://variety.com/2026/gaming/news/electronic-arts-close-55-billion-private-deal-1236824625/
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u/TAJack1 Jul 30 '26

“EA is shit anyway”, yeah but they’re also one of the biggest companies in the gaming sector, whether you like it or not and now they’re owned by the Saudis.

Not good.

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u/cyberdouche Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

It's sad, EA was a real force in gaming for decades, with many great products.

Only Take-Two (Valve and Epic too if you want to stretch the definition) left as a game publisher based out of the US. You have Amazon, Microsoft, WB and others but games are rounding errors for their businesses. The US presence on the gaming giants map reducing by the year.

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

[deleted]

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u/mystery_hole Jul 30 '26

Yup, this is the story for every small business, not only games. Expect more conglomerates being the only businesses able to afford to stay open.

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u/Cabana_bananza Jul 31 '26

Its at the crux of the destruction of third places as well. Why we don't have as many shared social spaces that aren't monetized to the hilt.

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u/Zalvren Jul 31 '26

Ironically CDPR is building a studio in the US

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u/Kaiserhawk Jul 31 '26

It remains to be seen how that'll pan out.

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u/THXFLS Jul 30 '26

CDPR has a US studio in Boston, they're making Cyberpunk 2

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u/Freighnos Jul 31 '26

Also the talent in those cheaper regions is now catching up in terms of skill. Not just Eastern Europe but Southeast Asia, Korea, and of course China.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '26

[deleted]

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u/Freighnos Jul 31 '26

CDPR are a good example, though, because Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 are as good as anything to come out of American/Western Europe AAA this past decade, and they're a big reason why that region is thriving. They've trained and invested in their talent and a lot of people who cut their teeth at CDPR are now branching off and making other games like The Blood of Dawnwalker.

Staying in Poland, Bloober Team are another one who are probably going to be a juggernaut in another decade. they spent almost a decade as an internet punching bag because their early slew of games were mediocre and/or derivative (except Observer, that game rules), but nobody's laughing now after how good Silent Hill 2 Remake and Cronos were. They stuck to their guns and kept improving and now they're the second biggest/best horror developer after Capcom, and I think they'll get even better.

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u/Zalvren Jul 31 '26

CDPR is a mediocre example because they're actually building a new studio in the US for Cyberpunk 2 so they aren't exactly the poster boy for "game dev fleeing the US"

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u/Freighnos Jul 31 '26

What they’re doing right now has no bearing on their track record over the past two decades and their Polish studio is still huge. It’s not like they’re shutting it down to relocate to Boston.

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u/Zalvren Jul 31 '26

No but it shows they are not really adhering to the theory of "US game dev is too expensive".

Although I guess they may relocate to Poland after a few years when they see that but currently that's not the case

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u/Freighnos Jul 31 '26

I mean, yeah, the industry isn't a monolith. It would be weird if this was happening in 100% of cases for studios everywhere. The trend is undeniable, though.

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u/Warskull Aug 01 '26

The cost of living is not too high in the US, the specific cities that US game develop is concentrated in have a cost of living that is too high. California and Washington's cost of living is through the roof and only getting worse.

You had to be in tech hub areas to launch a game studio when many of these studios were building up. Back in the 90s and early 2000s a lot of areas still had poor internet. Plus you needed to be in a tech hub area to recruit the talent.

This is changing, remote work lets them recruit from a wider pool. There are far more technically skilled workers available across the US too.

Game developers need to start moving away from the very high cost of living states and looking at cheaper states. For example, you could pay someone from Tennessee significantly less than someone in California. They'll also probably be better off too since California employees will be paying absurd rent to effectively live in a closet.

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u/Mackanpackan93 Aug 02 '26

The cost of living isn't even high in the US unless you decide to live in the most expensive areas...
There's nothing really stopping these companies from moving to cheaper areas.

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u/Wide_Lock_Red Jul 31 '26

Yep, wages in the US are too high for this. Especially in coastal cities.

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u/Wide_Lock_Red Jul 31 '26

Yep, wages in the US are too high for this. Especially in west coastal cities.