Gaming giant Electronic Arts has officially gone private, per its recent acquisition by the Consortium (a collective consisting of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund known as PIF, Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners investment firm, and Silver Lake). And it seems the changes are going to be immediate, with cuts of up to $700 million, including cuts for “operational efficiencies.”
For context, the intended acquisition of EA was announced back in 2025 as the industry itself continues to undergo a serious squeeze. It was more recently announced that the EA sale would be completed on August 4, which came to pass, and the company will no longer trade on the NASDAQ for the first time in 36 years. As reported by Bloomberg, EA stockholders will receive $210/share, which does include numerous employees of the company.
Mass EA Layoffs Are Reportedly Inbound
Also reported by Bloomberg, however, is the new financial reality of this private company. EA has taken on $18 billion, yes with a B, in debt, resulting in interest payments per year equal to roughly $1.8 billion. EA’s annual EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) is around $1.5 billion, which should be able to close the distance on the payments, but EA is already looking at where to cut annual costs. That includes $700 million in annual cost cuts, which includes $170 million in “organizational efficiencies,” per Bloomberg.
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That is code for mass layoffs, although the exact number likely won’t be confirmed until it actually happens (if it is confirmed). As reported by gaminglayoffs.com, there were 14.9K layoffs in 2024, 5.2K in 2025, and already 9.1K so far this year before these new EA layoffs. In other words, the industry may be on track to lose just as many jobs in 2026 as it did in 2024. The sheer number of layoffs means plenty of talent is being bled out and not returning, especially in the context of the wider economy. Finding jobs in the current market takes a long time, with several talented and well-known developers taking a year+ to find another job in the industry.
In early July 2026, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced a major “reset” for the company that resulted in 1,600 immediate layoffs and 1,600 that were then-upcoming for the fiscal year through various divestments and continued layoffs. Many employees there, then, still go to work with that axe hanging over their head, and it’s hard to imagine that’s been good for morale. The same is likely to happen with EA no matter how many folks are laid off. It’s not wise to speculate on people’s jobs, but $170 million in “organizational efficiencies” is a lot.
EA also recently filed its Form 10-K/A SEC, an update to its annual financial report, where it was confirmed that CEO Andrew Wilson’s total compensation for the recent fiscal year was over $38 million, which is an $8 million increase over 2025. That success for EA was in part due to the release of Battlefield 6, which may have struggled to maintain its launch momentum, with Battlefield Studios being one of the studios impacted by earlier layoffs. That does not rule it out from future ones.