EA is cutting jobs again. Just days before its record take-private deal is set to close, the publisher behind EA Sports FC, Madden, Battlefield and The Sims has reportedly moved through another round of layoffs, the third the company has been hit with this year. As Insider Gaming reports, the cuts landed late last week, around June 18 and 19, and they arrived with the clock ticking on a roughly $55 billion buyout that will pull EA off the public market entirely.
The timing is hard to ignore, and that really is the story here for those who follow the business side of gaming as closely as the games themselves. A massive deal is about to land, and the cost-cutting is already underway.
What We Know About The Latest Cuts
According to the reporting, this round did not target the development teams making the games. Instead it reportedly hit support functions: recruitment, customer support, trust and safety, and IT. The reductions span both U.S. roles and staff at EA's office in Hyderabad, India, and Game Developer notes that some of the affected India-based employees had been with the company for more than a decade.
EA has not put out an official headcount, so any specific figure floating around should be treated with a grain of salt. What is clear is the pattern. Earlier in 2026, the company cut roughly 300 roles tied to its Battlefield studios, the umbrella that includes DICE, Criterion, Ripple Effect and Motive. Stack this week's reductions on top, and you get a publisher trimming staff repeatedly across a single year.
The $55 Billion Deal Hanging Over It All
We have covered the buyout itself before, so here is the short version for anyone catching up. Back in late September 2025, a consortium made up of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake and Affinity Partners announced plans to buy EA and take it private. Widely reported at around $55 billion, it has been described as the largest leveraged buyout on record. EA shareholders approved the deal in December, and it is expected to close by its long-stop date of roughly June 30, 2026, pending the last regulatory signoffs.
That last detail matters when you read the layoffs alongside it. A leveraged buyout of this size means a mountain of debt loaded onto the company, with reports pointing to something on the order of $20 billion. When a business takes on that kind of obligation, belt-tightening tends to follow, and the support and administrative roles are often the first to feel it. None of that excuses the cuts for the people losing their jobs, but it does explain why they are happening right now, rather than later.
Why Going Private Changes The Picture
Once a company leaves the public market, it stops answering to everyday shareholders and quarterly earnings calls, and it answers to its new owners instead. Supporters of deals like this argue that private ownership can mean longer time horizons and less pressure to chase the next quarter. Critics counter that a record debt load can push a company toward smaller budgets, fewer risks, and a heavier focus on the safe, reliable franchises that already print money. For EA, that safe core means EA Sports FC, Madden, The Sims and Apex Legends.
The PIF angle has drawn its own scrutiny too. Saudi money has been flowing into gaming for years now, from major stakes in publishers to a growing presence in esports, and this would be one of the biggest moves yet. A group of U.S. lawmakers has reportedly called for a closer review of the buyout, so the deal is not landing entirely without friction.
It is also worth remembering that EA's recent stretch has not been smooth on the creative side. The company has weathered earlier layoff waves across 2023, 2024 and 2025, canceled projects including a planned Black Panther game, and acknowledged that titles like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and EA Sports FC 25 landed below its own expectations. A new owner inherits that history along with the franchises.
What This Could Mean For Players And Studios
For now, the people most directly affected are the support staff who lost their jobs this week, not the teams building the next Battlefield or sports release. But the bigger question is what private ownership does to the studios and franchises over the next few years. Will the new owners protect the experimental projects, or lean even harder on the annual sports machine that keeps the lights on? That is the part worth watching once the deal officially closes.
We will keep tracking the buyout as it crosses the finish line and update you on what changes for EA's lineup. What do you think this deal means for the games you actually play? Let us know where you land on it.
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