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An EA sale or merger is reportedly being sought by CEO Andrew Wilson, similar to the deal\u00a0between Microsoft and Activision earlier this year that saw the Call of Duty publisher get acquired by Xbox\u2019s owners. Supposedly, EA is \u201cpersistent in pursuing\u201d such a deal and has had talks with\u00a0NBCUniversal, Disney,\u00a0and Apple already.<\/p>\n

EA has had some turbulent times in the last few years, for sure. The publisher recently lost the FIFA football licence after 20 years, and Battlefield 2042 saw its first season significantly delayed\u00a0as the developer sought to stamp out its many bugs. Dragon Age 4 has gone through multiple changes and delays, and BioWare\u2019s most recent game Anthem was an expensive disaster.<\/p>\n

Despite all this, EA\u2019s last financial year was still its best ever, with profits up 20% and net earnings totalling around\u00a0$7.5bn USD\/ \u00a36bn GBP. According to a new report by Puck (via Kotaku), the veteran publisher\u00a0is supposedly\u00a0looking\u00a0to follow Activision\u2019s example in seeking an acquisition deal, with EA mostly interested in \u201ca merger arrangement that would allow Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company\u201d \u2013 similar to the original Activision-Blizzard merger, in fact.\n<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Puck reporter Dylan Beyers, \u201csources familiar with these talks say EA has been persistent in pursuing a sale and has only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft-Activision deal\u201d. A deal with comcast CEO Brian Roberts\u00a0to \u201cspin-off\u201d NBCUniversal into a \u201ccombined\u00a0entity\u201d with EA supposedly got far along but fell apart due to \u201cdisagreements over price and structure\u201d.\u00a0EA is still a \u201cpotential merger target\u201d for Comcast, however.<\/p>\n

The report states that EA also sought a deal with Disney as recently as March in search of \u201ca more meaningful relationship\u201d than just licensing, following its announcement of multiple new Star Wars games being overseen by Apex Legends developer Respawn. Disney backed out of the discussions,\u00a0however.<\/p>\n

Electronic Arts spokesperson John Reseburg refused to comment on these rumours, apparently, but stated that EA is \u201cproud to be operating from a position of strength and growth, with a portfolio of amazing games, built around powerful IP, made by incredibly talented teams, and a network of more than half a billion players. We see a very bright future ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen if anything comes of this, but it\u2019s not the only acquisition news going on this year. Aside from the Microsoft deal to buy Activision Blizzard, Destiny 2 studio Bungie was recently acquired by Sony, and Paradox Interactive \u201cmight be\u201d seeking other companies and IP to acquire.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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An EA sale or merger is reportedly being sought by CEO Andrew Wilson, similar to the deal\u00a0between Microsoft and Activision earlier this year that saw the Call of Duty publisher get acquired by Xbox\u2019s owners. Supposedly, EA is \u201cpersistent in pursuing\u201d such a deal and has had talks with\u00a0NBCUniversal, Disney,\u00a0and Apple already. EA has had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.pcgamesn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ea-sale-merger.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc"],"yoast_head":"\n