Arod X Rodriguez

07/08/2026

New Episode Coming Aug 12th

Why removing physical copies shrinks gamers' options

07/08/2026

First matches are Marvel Tokon. Amateur as hell but the game feels smooth!

03/08/2026

Still on this Black Flag!

What games are you playing?

01/08/2026

The Lobby Podcast TV Talk

Raising Kanaan
S5 EP.7
Thoughts on Jukebox role and evolution

31/07/2026

Omg

Saudi Arabia's $55 billion takeover of Electronic Arts will happen next week | News

July 30 — A new Form 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission says that Saudi Arabia's takeover of Electronic Arts has green lights across the board, and will be done next week.

More formally, "as of July 30, 2026, all regulatory approvals required to complete the Merger have been obtained," the filing states. "Electronic Arts currently expects the Merger to close on or about the close of trading on August 4, 2026."

The acquisition will take EA private, effectively turning the steering wheel over to Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, chair of the Public Investment Fund, and credibly accused mastermind of the 2018 murder of journalist and Saudi regime critic Jamal Khashoggi.

The impact of that change is already being felt. Some of the biggest Sims 4 content creators quit EA's creator network in 2025 over the buyout; one, Lilsimsie, wrote that "the values represented by the people acquiring EA are fundamentally at odds with what I stand for and support," presumably a reference to the Saudi kingdom's repression of women and the LGBTQ+ community.

Former BioWare lead writer Trick Weekes expressed similar concerns, predicting that "guns and football" games will be fine, but that "gay stuff" and "politics [they're] not going to like" are going to fall by the wayside.

The $55 billion deal is the largest leveraged buyout in history, and financing it will leave EA saddled with $20 billion in debt.

One of the minority backers of the takeover is Affinity Partners, an investment company owned by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US president Donald Trump, and Trump is also tight with bin Salman. The current chair of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, is also a very vocal Trump supporter.

—Andy Chalk

(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

31/07/2026

Cooking with Arch!

31/07/2026

Damn Marvin.....I hated to see it! Great episode!
One more left!

30/07/2026

Cooking with the Longhorns

30/07/2026

Cooking with the Horns!

29/07/2026

Seeing If I still got it!