Saudi Arabia’s PIF Weighs Merger of EA and Savvy Games

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is considering combining Electronic Arts (EA) with Savvy Games Group to create one of the world’s largest gaming companies. Bloomberg reported the development on Sept. 10, 2026, based on information from people familiar with the matter.

The proposed deal would place franchises including Battlefield, Madden NFL, Pokémon GO, The Sims, and MONOPOLY GO! under one corporate structure.

EA-Savvy Deal Would Expand Saudi Arabia’s Gaming Reach

The proposal is intended to improve coordination across PIF’s gaming investments, although no final decision has been made.

The merger is reportedly unlikely to proceed until Savvy completes its $6 billion USD acquisition of Chinese mobile gaming publisher MOONTON GAMES.

The Saudi PIF completed its roughly $55 billion acquisition of EA last month, taking the publisher private through a consortium with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. Savvy, backed by $38 billion from PIF, has separately expanded its portfolio through the $4.9 billion acquisition of Scopely and the approximately $3.5 billion purchase of Niantic’s games business.

Savvy is now the preferred channel for Saudi Arabia’s gaming investments, making greater coordination between its holdings a logical step. The challenge will be balancing shared resources and strategy with the independence of studios and publishers across the portfolio.

Regulatory Pressure Could Shape the Proposal

A merger would also face potential antitrust scrutiny as regulators examine major gaming transactions, including Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The discussions come as the industry deals with a post-pandemic slowdown, cost-cutting, and layoffs while publishers pursue scale and recurring revenue.

The deliberations also follow Savvy Games Group CEO, Brian Ward's departure on Sept. 1, 2026, after overseeing the group’s global acquisition strategy.

For PIF, combining EA and Savvy could simplify its gaming empire, but preserving the distinct operations behind those assets could prove just as important as achieving greater scale.