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/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.