US Senators Express Concern Over Saudi Government’s Involvement In EA Buyout

By Elijah Gonzalez | October 16, 2025 | 12:47pm

Video Games News Electronic Arts

US Senators Express Concern Over Saudi Government’s Involvement In EA Buyout

Earlier this week, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) publicly expressed concern over Saudi Arabia’s involvement in EA’s recent $55 billion buyout deal. Specifically, the two senators wrote a pair of letters to U.S. Treasury Secretary and Committee of Foreign Investment chair Scott Bessent and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson, in which they rallied against the acquisition.

The deal, which was announced a little over two weeks ago, would have the American company acquired by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), private equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s investment group Affinity Partners.

“We write with profound concern about the foreign influence and national security risks posed by the potential acquisition of American video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake Group, L.L.C. (Silver Lake), and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners,” the letter to Bessent reads. “In your capacity as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or the Committee), we urge you and the Committee to apply searching scrutiny to this unprecedented, proposed foreign privatization of a major American technology and entertainment company.”

This letter goes on to essentially detail what has come to be known as “sportswashing” or now “gameswashing.” The Saudi Arabian government has been accused of repeatedly investing in entertainment, like golf tournaments or Pokémon, in an attempt to distract from its long list of human rights abuses.

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“Leveraging long term shifts in public opinion, through the PIF’s investments, ‘Saudi Arabia is seeking to normalize its global image, expand its cultural reach, and gain leverage in spaces that shape how billions of people connect and interact,’” the letter to Bessent reads. “Saudi Arabia’s desire to buy influence through the acquisition of EA is apparent on the face of the transaction—the investors propose to pay more than $10 billion above EA’s trading value for a company whose stock has “stagnated for half a decade”10 in an unpredictably volatile industry.”

Warren and Blumenthal also point out how Jared Kushner is likely part of the deal because of his closeness to the Trump administration, writing that his involvement “raises troubling questions about whether Mr. Kushner is involved in the transaction solely to ensure the federal government’s approval of the transaction.” If the acquisition were to fail due to being unable to meet regulatory approval, the acquiring parties would need to pay EA a termination fee of $1 billion.

The letter also draws attention to Kushner’s questionable ties with the Saudi Arabian government, and how his firm Affinity Group “previously received a $2 billion investment from the PIF over the objections of the PIF’s own investment screening board.” This took place after the Trump administration vetoed bills that would have banned weapon sales to Saudi Arabia during its war in Yemen, among other acts beneficial to the Saudi government.

The Bessent letter further lays out a hypothetical scenario about how the Saudi government could influence EA in the future: “Without meaningful mitigation conditions, the PIF’s privatization of EA threatens to eliminate transparency into the company’s activities. As a private company, EA would no longer be required to regularly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission information about its activities, financial status, and future plans. The PIF’s control over EA’s operations could extend to influencing or directing the company’s design, features, and product decisions to advance the Saudi government’s specific and long-term objectives. PIF would be well positioned to dictate or veto what stories are told to Americans through the popular medium of video games, controlling narratives about U.S. history and culture. In short, the Saudi government’s ability to exert its influence through EA would offer the authoritarian regime an effective tool to project power worldwide.”

While it hasn’t been directly confirmed, it certainly appeared from an outside perspective that certain decisions around SNK’s Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (the PIF owns a majority stake in SNK) were influenced by the Saudi Arabian government: the fighting game included real-life celebrities, soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo and DJ Salvatore Ganacci, who both have been paid by the PIF in the past.