The Videogame Workers United union believes that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should take a closer look at Electronic Arts’ acquisition.

Videogame Workers United wants the deal’s approval to depend on job and studio protection. Growing opposition to the $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts is coming from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and private equity firms. The United Videogame Workers-Communication Workers of America (UVW-CWA) union issued a statement calling on regulators and lawmakers to ensure that any further steps protect jobs, preserve creative freedom, and keep decision-making accountable to the workers who make EA successful.

“The recently proposed acquisition of Electronic Arts by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund and private equity firms, including Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, will further concentrate power and wealth into the hands of a few gatekeepers while doing nothing to address the concerns of players and workers. Electronic Arts is not a struggling company. 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. Its success has been driven entirely by the creativity, skill, and innovation of its tens of thousands of workers, who 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.

We are particularly concerned about the future of our studios that have been arbitrarily deemed “less profitable,” even though they have contributed greatly to EA’s reputation in the video game industry. Since 2022, an estimated 40,000 video game workers have lost their jobs due to mass layoffs at both AAA and indie studios. According to 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? Which studios will be sacrificed? If jobs are lost or studios are closed due to this deal, it will be a choice made to pad investors’ pockets, not to strengthen the company.

Every time private equity or billionaire investors take a studio private, workers lose visibility, transparency, and power. Decisions that shape our jobs, our art, and our futures are made behind closed doors by executives who have never written a line of code, built worlds, or supported live services. We are calling 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.

However, we also recognize that regulators and elected officials alone will not save the video game industry. Only we can truly do that. Organizing is the only way to guarantee that workers have a real voice when ownership changes hands. It’s also 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 lies 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,” the statement reads.

The United Videogame Workers union has launched a petition urging regulators to thoroughly investigate the deal. The petition will be submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Source: PCGamer, UVW-CWA, Eurogamer, Action Network