Gaming business • September 11, 2026
Saudi PIF weighs merging EA and Savvy, a move that could redraw the global games business
The reported idea would place EA’s console-and-PC franchises beside Savvy’s mobile and esports empire. It is not a signed deal, and the unanswered questions—from ownership structure to antitrust review—matter as much as the eye-catching list of games.
The story in four signals
What changed
A month after EA left the stock market, its new ownership may already be thinking bigger
Electronic Arts has barely begun life as a private company, yet the next question around one of America’s biggest game publishers is already taking shape: could it be folded into the much broader gaming network controlled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund?
Bloomberg reported on September 10 that PIF executives are considering a combination of EA and Savvy Games Group, the Riyadh-based gaming company owned by the sovereign wealth fund. Reuters subsequently reported the same proposal, citing Bloomberg’s account. The logic described in that reporting is coordination: EA brings globally known sports, shooter and life-simulation franchises, while Savvy already owns a large mobile publisher and a major esports operator. Put together, the businesses would span more of the industry than either does today.
The sequencing is important. EA announced on August 4 that its roughly $55 billion take-private acquisition by a consortium of PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners had closed. EA’s stock stopped trading, and the Redwood City, California company entered a new phase under private ownership. PIF had already been an EA shareholder for more than five years; the original 2025 agreement said PIF would roll its existing 9.9% stake into the transaction.
But the new report is not an announcement that EA and Savvy will merge. Bloomberg said no final decision had been made. Reuters said a deal was unlikely to happen before Savvy completes its acquisition of Shanghai-based Moonton, the developer behind Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. That distinction is central to understanding the story. What exists today is a strategic possibility being weighed by an investor with exposure to both sides—not a completed corporate reorganization and not a timetable for changing games, studios or player accounts.
The two sides
EA supplies console scale; Savvy supplies mobile reach and esports infrastructure
EA’s portfolio is unusually broad for a stand-alone publisher. The company says fiscal 2026 GAAP net revenue was about $7.5 billion. Its roster includes EA Sports FC, Madden NFL, College Football, Battlefield, Apex Legends, The Sims, Need for Speed, Dragon Age and F1. That mix gives EA durable sports licensing relationships, premium releases, live-service expertise and an enormous installed base of players across consoles and PCs.
Savvy comes from a different direction. PIF describes it as a strategic gaming portfolio company created in 2021 with the ambition to become a global leader in games and esports. Its two most visible operating businesses are Scopely and ESL FACEIT Group. Scopely, based in Culver City, California, is a mobile-focused publisher whose portfolio includes Monopoly GO!, Stumble Guys and Star Trek Fleet Command. Savvy bought Scopely in 2023, and Scopely then completed a $3.5 billion acquisition of Niantic’s games business in May 2025, bringing Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now into its portfolio.
That acquisition also illustrates why the contemplated EA-Savvy pairing would be more than a collection of famous game names. Scopely said the Niantic games business had more than 30 million monthly active players and more than $1 billion in 2024 revenue when the deal was announced. Pokémon GO adds location-based play, live events and a large mobile community. ESL FACEIT Group, meanwhile, operates tournament and esports infrastructure. EA would add top-tier sports and action franchises, large console communities and a sizable PC presence.
The result, on paper, is a cross-platform portfolio that touches many of the industry’s most valuable operating models: annualized sports, premium blockbusters, free-to-play shooters, life simulation, mobile live services, location-based games and esports. That does not mean the businesses automatically fit together operationally. It does explain why PIF might see strategic value in coordinating assets that currently sit in different corporate structures.
What a combined umbrella could contain
Sports, shooters, simulation
EA Sports FC, Madden NFL, College Football, Battlefield, Apex Legends, The Sims and a deep slate of console and PC properties.
Mobile communities
Monopoly GO!, Stumble Guys, Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now and other long-running mobile experiences.
Esports operations
ESL FACEIT Group adds tournament, league, platform and event infrastructure rather than another conventional game-publishing catalog.
Another mobile pillar
Savvy has agreed to acquire Moonton, best known for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Reuters says the deal is valued at more than $6 billion and remains relevant to the timing of any EA-Savvy move.
Four lenses for reading the merger report
PIF is on both maps
Savvy is PIF-owned, while EA is owned by a consortium that includes PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. A combination would require a structure that accounts for the consortium’s other investors.
Console meets mobile
EA is strongest on console and PC; Savvy’s Scopely is a major mobile operator. The overlap is real, but so is the complementarity.
Scale invites scrutiny
Large gaming transactions have faced detailed antitrust review. No regulator has announced a review of this possible deal because there is no announced transaction yet.
Famous IP is not integration
Combining catalogs is easy on a slide. Combining development cultures, technology, data systems and publishing operations without disrupting games is the harder task.
The regulatory question
Microsoft-Activision showed how regulators can define competition far beyond box sales
Any discussion of a gaming megamerger now carries the memory of Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. The Federal Trade Commission sued to stop that transaction, arguing that Microsoft could use control of major game content to disadvantage rival consoles, subscription services and cloud-gaming competitors. The FTC ultimately closed its administrative case in 2025, but the fight demonstrated how regulators can examine multiple layers of the market rather than treating games as a single undifferentiated category.
An EA-Savvy transaction would present a different fact pattern. There is no Xbox-like hardware platform on either side, and Savvy’s biggest publishing exposure is mobile rather than console. That could reduce some of the vertical concerns that shaped the Microsoft case. At the same time, the sheer range of franchises, mobile communities and esports infrastructure inside a combined group could invite questions about competition in publishing, mobile distribution relationships, licensing, advertising, data and tournament ecosystems depending on the final structure.
The most responsible conclusion today is therefore modest: antitrust scrutiny is plausible, but its intensity cannot be predicted before a deal exists. Regulators would need transaction documents, ownership details and a theory of which markets are affected. They would also care about geography. EA is a U.S.-headquartered publisher; Scopely is based in California; Savvy and PIF are Saudi entities; Moonton is Chinese; the player bases are global. A transaction that looks simple as a corporate chart could require approvals or notifications in multiple jurisdictions.
Foreign investment review could also be part of the broader legal conversation in the United States depending on how a transaction is structured, but it would be premature to claim a particular review path. EA’s take-private transaction already closed in August after completing its required process. A later combination with Savvy would be a new corporate event whose regulatory treatment would depend on the actual ownership and control terms.
The Saudi strategy
PIF has treated gaming as a long-term sector, not a one-off entertainment bet
PIF’s gaming push is part of a broader effort to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and build domestic entertainment industries. On its own website, the fund calls games and esports a priority sector and describes Savvy as a vehicle for strategic acquisitions, investments and commercial ventures. That framing matters because it suggests patient capital and a willingness to assemble assets across multiple parts of the industry rather than simply taking minority stakes.
The acquisition trail makes that strategy visible. Savvy bought Scopely for $4.9 billion in 2023. Scopely acquired Niantic’s games business for $3.5 billion in 2025. Savvy agreed this year to acquire Moonton from ByteDance in a transaction valued at more than $6 billion, according to Reuters. Separately, PIF joined Silver Lake and Affinity Partners in the approximately $55 billion acquisition of EA. The latest report asks whether those lines could converge.
For the United States, this is not an abstract foreign-investment story. EA is headquartered in Redwood City. Scopely is headquartered in Culver City. Their workforces, contractors, licensors and players are deeply embedded in the American games economy. A combination would place two major U.S.-based game businesses inside a strategic network anchored by Saudi capital, even if day-to-day studios continue to operate in California and elsewhere.
What to watch next
Five signals that would turn speculation into a real transaction story
A formal statement from PIF, EA or Savvy. Until one exists, the combination remains an idea reported by news organizations rather than an announced corporate action.
Completion of the Moonton acquisition. Reuters says the EA-Savvy move is unlikely before Savvy finishes that more-than-$6-billion transaction.
The ownership structure. EA is held by a consortium, while Savvy is a PIF company. The treatment of Silver Lake and Affinity Partners would shape both economics and governance.
Regulatory filings. They would reveal which jurisdictions are reviewing the combination and what competitive markets the parties believe are relevant.
Operating commitments. Statements about studio autonomy, leadership, jobs, data systems and service strategy would matter more to developers and players than the headline value alone.
Bottom line
The most important word in the story is still “considering”
PIF has enough gaming assets for an EA-Savvy combination to be strategically believable. EA provides elite sports and console publishing, Savvy provides a major mobile platform through Scopely, ESL FACEIT adds esports infrastructure, and Moonton would deepen the mobile footprint further if its acquisition closes. The pieces are real, and the investor’s long-term gaming ambitions are well documented.
For now, the report is best read as a sign of where the center of gravity in global gaming may be moving. Capital is clustering around companies that can keep large communities engaged across multiple platforms for years. If PIF ultimately puts EA and Savvy under a tighter common structure, it would create one of the broadest portfolios in the business. If it does not, the fact that the idea is being considered still shows how aggressively the industry’s biggest investors are thinking about scale.
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