Last week, Kotaku kept getting emails about a “raid” happening at the Electronic Arts Redwood City headquarters as part of a joint effort between concerned “gamers” and the Players Alliance, a group pushing back against corporate greed in the video game industry. We didn’t write anything ahead of time, but figured we’d see what happened the day of. Well, today, May 11, the group showed up and livestreamed their demonstration, and it was not so much an IRL raid of the type recently being inflicted upon the Church of Scientology so much as a modest gathering of concerned citizens with funny signs.
The protest was streamed on SlayerKase‘s Twitch channel and sought to emphasize concerns about EA’s recent layoffs, the proliferation of in-game microtransactions, and a $55 billion Saudi Arabia buyout set to finalize this summer. The big tentpole of the protest was a giant, 50-foot sheet of signatures from over 70,000 petitioners collected protesting the acquisition and the state of EA.
“Here we are at was once a great American company,” SlayerKase said. “EA, man. They started, they called themselves the Electronic Artists. They don’t want to make currency machines. Nah, screw that! They wanted to make art. They put it in their name. Art. The Electronic Artists because they wanted to make something to make people feel something. We’re gonna get into it, because that hasn’t exactly really gone as planned, has it, y’all? Do you feel like you’re surrounded by artists right now? No. Does this look like a studio to you? No. It’s just another business. Just another place trying to turn what you love into money.”
The demonstration included fans dressed with Sims-style plumbobs, holding up signs with slogans like “devs & players over investors” and “no DLC for corporate greed,” as well as cutouts of the faces of people like EA CEO Andrew Wilson, Jared Kushner, whose private equity group is also part of the buyout, and Saudi Arabian prime minister Mohammed bin Salman with heart-shaped health bars above them. Because they’re boss battles.
The group ended their protest by urging anyone watching to contact their local legislators and ask them to halt the buyout. While passionate, the protestors were also restrained, polite, and didn’t seem to cause any issues for the EA security standing behind metal barriers nearby. The Saudi Arabia buyout was announced last September, and was met with swift backlash from the industry, fans who worry about how this might affect the content of queer-inclusive games like Mass Effect and The Sims, and even American politicians. The company’s shareholders approved the buyout in December.
The Saudi government has been accused of buying up pieces of the video game industry in an effort to improve its public image, whether that be in buying companies, long-standing community events, or trying to establish its own competitive tournaments overseas.