Electronic Arts has been acquired by an investment consortium consisting of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners in a $55 billion dollar all-cash transaction. It’s the largest private buyout ever in history. Despite such a historic event on Wall Street, some gamers are worried about how the acquisition could impact the content in EA’s games, particularly around LGBT+ content.
EA has an incredibly diverse portfolio of games, including live-service powerhouses like Battlefield, FIFA, and Madden. The company also has fabled single-player and story-driven franchises such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Both of these have developed strong followings in the LGBTQ+ community as a result of players being able to enter romantic relationships with certain characters, regardless of the player’s gender.
Mass Effect 3 included same-sex romance options for both male and female Shepards, while Dragon Age: The Veilguard had a non-binary companion with a rich storyline about discovering their own identity. These games were seen as huge leaps in progress for LGBTQ+ representation. But now, some fans are concerned about these themes in future games due EA’s Saudi acquisition.
While it’s still too early to tell what kind of impact this acquisition will hold for the future of EA and the games industry, a Reddit user asked, “Am I the only one who is scared by EA being purchased by people as conservative as Kushner and the Saudi Royal family? Will future BioWare games backslide massively on queer themes and LGBTQ+ inclusion and other ‘woke’ things?”
The community of the incredibly popular life-sim game, The Sims, also owned by EA, is worried as well. The Sims 4 is known for its extensive inclusivity options, such as customizable character gender and sexual orientation preferences.
“This is going to wreck The Sims franchise as it’s been a welcoming/safe space for all. None of those companies support that model so you can expect some major changes down the road,” said another Reddit user. “Expecting them to root out any and all LGBTQIA+ content. SAD DAY.”
Still, EA as a whole has been supportive of LGBTQ+ rights, saying in a 2022 statement, “As a company, we are united that Trans Rights are Human Rights. Women’s Rights are Human Rights. Our support is unwavering for our people, our players, and our LGBTQ+ communities.
It’s a stark contrast with Saudi Arabia, which criminalizes same-sex sexual activity between men and women, as well as gender expression of trans people. Additionally, Affinity Partners is owned by Jared Kushner, husband of Ivanka Trump. The Trump administration has been enacting policies that roll back LGBTQ+ rights protections. It’s currently unknown how these two polar opposite philosophies will influence EA’s games in the long-run.
With all that being said, however, there hasn’t been any signs that Saidi-backed studios would actually remove this kind of content. However, a fighting game that was released earlier this year, Fatal Fury: City of Wolves, gave a glimpse of how Saudi ownership could impact future game content. The game is developed by SNK, who is owned by the Misk Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization established by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon.
One of the playable characters in the game is Cristiano Ronaldo (yes, the real-world soccer player). It’s common for fighting games to include guest characters from other franchises. Tekken 7 had Noctis from Final Fantasy XV, while Mortal Kombat 1 even had non-game cameo characters like Homelander from Amazon’s The Boys and Omni-Man from Invincible. At least, they were fictional.
But Ronaldo has absolutely no connection to fighting games, let alone Fatal Fury. The only connection is that Ronaldo currently plays for the Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr. His inclusion is to apparently broaden the appeal of the series and reach more players, but it’s such a bizarre and left-field choice. Including a real-life figure like that cheapens the game’s presentation.
It was announced last month that 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage would get DLC that takes place in 9th-century AlUla, Saudi Arabia, despite developer Ubisoft previously stating that there were no plans for DLC in the game. Reports claim that Ubisoft entered into a partnership with Savvy Games Group, which is also owned by PIF.
The sudden switch up is strange, considering how adamant Ubisoft was that the game wouldn’t receive DLC. It seems like some developers are aware of how gamers react to potential Saudi involvement that they’d rather keep it a secret.
Criticisms have also been levied against the Esports World Cup earlier this year, as the event took place in Saudi Arabia. Members of the esports community were concerned about the country’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights, although the Esports World Cup boss defended the decision, assuring that they’d be welcome. So these kinds of partnerships not only could impact game content, but have real-life ramifications as well.
So far, Saudi investment companies have made rather innocuous decisions, in the case of Ronaldo in a fighting game and a DLC expansion set in ancient Saudi Arabia. Hopefully, we won’t see any roll backs on LGBTQ+ representation from the one of the largest game developers in history, as the industry desperately needs it.