Game dev union blasts EA buyout, asks the government to scrutinize the daylights out of it: "If jobs are lost or studios are closed due to this deal, that would be a choice, not a necessity"

United Videogame Workers-CWA, a union protecting employees of video game companies across the US and Canada, has issued a scathing rebuke of EA's recently revealed $55 billion buyout by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and private equity firms including Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners.

The deal has been widely criticized, with some US senators sounding the alarm "about the foreign influence and national security risks" that could happen if it goes through.

In a statement published on the union's official website this week, the UVW-CWA says the deal "will further concentrate power and wealth into the hands of a few gatekeepers while doing nothing to address the concerns of players and workers.

"EA is not a struggling company," the statement adds. "With annual revenues reaching $7.5 billion and $1 billion in profit each year, EA is one of the largest video game developers and publishers in the world. EA's success has been entirely driven by tens of thousands of EA workers whose creativity, skill, and innovation made EA worth buying in the first place. Yet we, the very people who will be jeopardized as a result of this deal, were not represented at all when this buyout was negotiated or discussed."

It's true that buyouts by private equity firms don't typically result in better games or working conditions for developers, and downsizing, cancelations, and studio closures aren't uncommon. The Saudi government's involvement is also a point of ethical concern for many, but the UVW-CWA's statement focuses more on the risk of redundancy potentially facing its individual members and the studios they represent.

Adds the UVW-CWA: "We are particularly worried about the future of our studios that are arbitrarily deemed 'less profitable' but whose contributions to the video game industry define EA's reputation. Since 2022, an estimated 40,000 video game workers have already lost their jobs due to mass layoffs at AAA and indie studios alike. As reported in Game Developer, this deal will result in EA having to finance nearly $20 billion in debt—who will be spared, which corners will executives cut, and what studios will be sacrificed in order for that to happen?

"If jobs are lost or studios are closed due to this deal, that would be a choice, not a necessity, made to pad investors' pockets—not to strengthen the company," reads the statement.

The UVW-CWA then calls directly on "regulators and elected officials to scrutinize this deal and ensure that any path forward protects jobs, preserves creative freedom, and keeps decision-making accountable to the workers who make EA successful."

Government bodies are becoming increasingly involved in investigating massive buyouts in the video game industry. In 2023, the FTC fought and failed to stop Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard for $70 billion, and the UVW-CWA recognizes that it'll take more than government scrutiny to ensure fair treatment for video game workers.

It adds: "Organizing is the only thing that guarantees workers a real voice when ownership changes hands, and it's the only way to ensure that the people who make video games have a say in how they're run.

"The value of video games is in their workers. As a unified voice, we, the members of the industry-wide video game workers' union UVW-CWA, are standing together and refusing to let corporate greed decide the future of our industry."