EDIT: I think I might have worded that poorly. I do NOT think a change is going to happen, at least not one for the better, especially considering the actors involved in the buyout. I think it's optimistic to think that it will.
Things really do seem bad enough that clearly something drastic is needed if anything is going to change, For an unhappy fan of one of the many EA franchises, I don't have any trouble imagining that even a major change that's unlikely to produce good still offers more hope than the status quo. If there's a 1% chance that taking EA private will improve things, it still probably is more likely than things improving with the current management.
Correct: “the transaction will be funded by a combination of cash from each of PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners as well as roll-over of PIF’s existing stake in EA, constituting an equity investment of approximately $36 billion, and $20 billion of debt financing.”
EA currently carries about $2.6bn in non-current liabilities of which $1.5bn is long-term debt. So an order of magnitude more debt.
I know this is probably part of the Saudi strategy of "sportswashing"[1], but I don't really care about EA or their legacy anymore.
[1] https://www.eurogamer.net/ea-sports-fc-24-boss-on-sportswash...
I still remember the “Westwood Studios Proudly Presents…” on the RA2 intro cutscene and that pride really shined through. Even the installer for the game was a blast (full-screen, dropped you into a faux game-UX and gave you a military briefing with their kickass soundtrack while the progress bar ran). Modern AAA games lack the soul that games of this time had.
They own the entire sports gaming genre, and it's a massive money maker.
NBA Live hasn't caught up to 2K for a long time and Sony still has MLB
I wonder if the new owners would care to port it or sell it again.
When first person games became a destination for gaming (and not just another genre that we move on from — like "fighting games") is when I checked out of gaming. I know, I know, there are no doubt plenty of cool indie games out there (and other genres) but I guess in the meantime I found other ways to spend my time and haven't really looked back into games.
First, I absolutely hate who is buying them. Especially as a huge Bioware fan with a Mass Effect tattoo.
That being said, putting aside who is buying them for a moment. I would actually be happy to see more gaming companies going fully private. I feel like the need for constant growth (instead of just sustainability) is what has caused much of the issues in the current gaming market.
So not exactly super excited about how exactly this is happening, but I do hope that we can see other gaming companies do it with better sources.
However this is the rare exception because this is more about oligarchs making a play for total control over the media sphere rather than any sort of financial independence. That said, cornering the entertainment side of things is going to be much harder especially since the people that do this kind of thing have zero clue what a video game even is or how to make a profitable one.
SWTOR was maintained pretty well for a while and was fun.
The issues with ME3's ending were blown way out of proportion and was still a fantastic trilogy.
Andromeda had its issues no doubt about it but I am still mad at a certain website deciding that they were going to just go hard on attacking it. It was a fun game, it had some development issues and some nasty bugs at launch. But was still fun.
Anthem... man that game had potential but just was not ready to ship. Was a ton of fun to play and I loved the bits of story we got but it really was just a tease of a story sadly.
DA Veilguard... definitely not up to the standard that Bioware set but there is still something uniquely Bioware about the characters that I fell in love with.
Has Bioware gone down since their peak? Yeah. But I think claims that they are dead are overblown and people parroting it on youtube for clicks sure isnt helping that sentiment. Play the games and make your own decision.
I'm not sure the investment group attempting to diversify Saudi oil income is going to be less profit oriented than the stock market in general
I think most companies satisfied by being sustainable are probably owned by their original founders or their families, not private equity.
It's a very simple money-printing machine, with plenty of people addicted to it with its gambling/gache style game.
All the other IP barely make any revenue and will likely get even less attention. RIP Bioware.
That was _quite a lot_ of money in Brazil at the time.
Maybe they will limit how many minutes you can play before having to pay more?!
Modern Games also lack the Game and Fun part. They either make something super complex I no longer have the time to dive in, or pay to win.
I respect this company a lot, even though they always seem to do things that embitter the gaming community against them.
Unfortunately these types of buyouts usually come with layoffs, after a year of tough layoffs in games. I hope anyone who will be affected can land somewhere safe.
The campus has a labyrinth with a plaque that's always inspired me: "As in life, the walls are only in your mind."
input_sh•44m ago
Mistletoe•42m ago
I remember when they were the good guys. I’d see that EA logo on my Commodore 64 load up and I knew I was in for something amazing like Archon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon:_The_Light_and_the_Dark
throaway1988•39m ago
nicce•33m ago
bayindirh•26m ago
It only shows that their business model is creating value for the people who matters to the detriment of others.
nicce•22m ago
dangus•16m ago
The millions of people who play FIFA, Madden, and Battlefield don’t sit around on niche forums bashing EA for not making enough innovative indie-style titles.
EA even puts out titles that are legitimately critically acclaimed every once in a while (Split Fiction as a recent example).
mapcars•4m ago
Its not even that, both Mass Effect and Dragon Age are fantastic series with latest games being mediocre at best. If they did the same thing as before it would be more successful, so they clearly don't know what is the right thing for the customers.
kotaKat•30m ago
piva00•42m ago
actionfromafar•26m ago
Jared Ibn Kushner: "hold my شاي"