EA's takeover, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, and "vanity mega projects": Human Rights Watch assesses the impact of gaming's latest controversy

Earlier this week, history was made in both the world of video games and private equity. The trio of Affinity Partners, Silver Lake, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced a plan to take EA private for $55bn. This leveraged buyout would be the largest in history and, if approved, will mean the industry giant would be a private company in 2027.

This immediately raised concerns throughout the industry. Despite a statement by EA CEO Andrew Wilson saying the company’s values would remain the same, many were concerned at the $20bn of debt the company would be saddled with. Would EA still support studios like Bioware to make the games it wants to make? Among all this, there were also concerns of a moral nature, due to the involvement of Saudi Arabia’s government in the deal.

Eurogamer spoke to Human Rights Watch’s Saudi Arabia researcher, Joey Shea, to discuss the ethical dilemma at the heart of the buyout. Human Rights Watch – which has yet to issue a comment on the deal – has comprehensively covered the ongoing human rights abuses taking place in Saudi Arabia, and how the Public Investment Fund is directly tied to such abuses.

“We have found that the public investment fund has contributed to, and is responsible for, human rights abuses” states Shea. “This is a trillion dollars in Saudi state wealth that should be invested to realise the economic and social rights of Saudi citizens. We’ve found it’s been invested in vanity mega projects inside and outside of the country.