There have been a lot of opinions floating around from industry experts after EA’s $55B sale to private investors, but today might be the most important opinion yet. The United Videogame Workers-CWA is a joint union that covers the North American games industry, and they’re calling the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to scrutinize this EA deal.
“If jobs are lost or studios are closed due to this deal, that would be a choice, not a necessity, made to pad investors’ pockets.”
How Effective Will This Petition Really Be?
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This is not the first time we’re seeing game industry workers call out layoffs or controversial deals settled behind closed doors. We’ve seen thousands of layoffs between 2022 and 2025, and these include major job cuts at companies like Microsoft, Epic Games, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, and Embracer Group.
For many EA employees, the fear isn’t just about losing their jobs — it’s about losing creative control. The union’s statement highlights how studios that aren’t “profitable enough” often end up on the chopping block, even if they’re beloved by players. Potential studios that can face this fate might be BioWare (Mass Effect), Respawn (Titanfall, Apex Legends), and Motive (Star Wars Battlefront and Squadrons).
The concern is highly valid. When large acquisitions occur, especially ones that involve private equity and wealth funds, restructuring, studio mergers, closings, and layoffs are common. EA’s reported $20 billion in acquisition-related debt could easily become an excuse to “streamline operations.”This is why unionized EA workers and other people involved in the game industry are launching a petition with the CWA.
The idea is to call on the FTC and U.S. regulators to block or heavily scrutinize the Saudi and Kushner-backed $55B acquisition of EA. Realistically, U.S regulators have struggled to halt far less politically connected mergers, like Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. If deals like that were able to sail through, it’s hard to imagine the FTC mounting a serious challenge against a Saudi-backed bid for EA.
Published: Oct 16, 2025 12:00 pm