Saudi Arabia's PIF Considers Merging EA With Savvy Games Group

Barely four weeks after closing the largest leveraged buyout in video game history, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is already drawing up plans to consolidate its empire. Following the $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts that finalized on August 4, 2026, PIF executives are reportedly weighing a massive internal merger that would combine the California-based publisher with the fund's existing gaming arm, Savvy Games Group.[2][3]

The proposed combination, first reported by Bloomberg on September 10, would bring an unprecedented portfolio of intellectual property under a single corporate roof. On the console and PC side, Electronic Arts controls heavyweights like EA Sports FC, Madden NFL, Battlefield, and The Sims. The publisher posted $8 billion in net bookings in its last fiscal year before going private, cementing its position as a cornerstone of traditional gaming.[1]

Savvy Games Group, meanwhile, has spent the last three years aggressively rolling up the mobile and competitive esports sectors. The Saudi-backed firm acquired Monopoly Go developer Scopely for $4.9 billion in 2023, and subsequently funded Scopely’s $3.5 billion buyout of Niantic’s games portfolio—including Pokémon Go—in May 2025. Savvy also owns the ESL Faceit Group, giving it a dominant position in global esports tournament organization.[1][5]

The strategic goal behind the merger is to "ensure better coordination between its assets," according to sources familiar with the internal deliberations. By fusing EA's traditional development studios with Savvy's mobile dominance, the PIF aims to create a single, streamlined vehicle for future acquisitions and cross-platform development. The move would directly address EA's historical weakness in the lucrative mobile market, pairing its globally recognized console brands with Scopely's proven mobile monetization engines.[1][3]

However, the timeline for any such integration remains tied to pending business. Sources indicate that no final decision will be made until Savvy Games Group completes its ongoing $6 billion acquisition of Moonton, the Chinese developer behind the massively popular mobile title Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. That deal, announced earlier this year, is still navigating international regulatory approvals.[2][3]

The internal restructuring also coincides with a sudden leadership vacuum at Savvy. Chief Executive Officer Brian Ward stepped down last week after leading the company's aggressive international acquisition strategy. He has been temporarily replaced by interim boss Turqi Alnowaiser, a senior PIF executive who was instrumental in orchestrating the EA buyout consortium alongside private equity firms Silver Lake and Affinity Partners.[5]

For the workforce at Electronic Arts, the prospect of a merger introduces new anxieties. Merging two massive corporate structures typically results in the elimination of duplicated operations and services. EA employees are already bracing for deep cuts as the newly private company absorbs the estimated $18 billion debt load incurred during the PIF-led buyout, and consolidating operations with Savvy would likely trigger further restructuring across both entities.[2][3]

If the PIF proceeds with the merger, the resulting entity would be a global powerhouse with unparalleled reach across console, PC, mobile, and competitive esports. Yet it would also face intense regulatory scrutiny. Competition authorities have heavily monitored consolidation in the video game sector following Microsoft’s protracted $69 billion battle to acquire Activision Blizzard, and a unified EA-Savvy conglomerate would represent a massive concentration of market power under a single sovereign wealth fund.[2][3]