Electronic Arts enters new era with Saudis and private investors — a look back at EA’s top esports tournaments

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Electronic Arts (EA) has agreed to be acquired to a group of private investors at a value of $55 billion. At the current value, this would be the largest private equity buyout ever, and marks another global expansion of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. With EA going private, Esports Charts takes a look back across their most popular esports events.

EA’s buyout comes from a group of private investors: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Affinity Partners, and Silver Lake. The deal was also partly financed by JPMorgan, who provided $20 billion of the total sum – the remaining came in cash and previous PIF equity. Including franchises like EA Sports FC, Battlefield, The Sims, and more, this deal is a major move forward for the Saudis in the games industry.

Electronic Arts is one of the most recognizable names in gaming. Founded in the early 80s, the company spearheaded the video game industry for decades. Nowadays, the company is one of the largest companies across the globe, spanning multiple established franchises of their own, but also other gaming studies and products. As of 2025, the company employs over 14,000 people spread across their global offices. 

Top EA esports tournaments

The most popular Electronic Arts esports tournaments are dominated by Apex Legends, a game published by EA. Developed by Respawn Entertainment, Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale shooter, which has gained a loyal fan base of players and viewers for esports action. Over the years, the official esports circuits for the game, the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS), gained recognition and strong following.

2022 marked the highest peak year for the ALGS, with 676.6K Peak Viewers (PV) earned for the ALGS: 2022 Split 2 Playoffs, and another 632.4K PV at the ALGS: 2022 Championship. The top series was able to earn its record-setting peak thanks to strong representation from English and Japanese-speaking audiences; typically, these are the two largest drivers for Apex Legends esports viewership, but at this tournament in particular, Japanese viewers showed a strong result.

While not EA’s flagship title, the company has devoted plenty of energy to Apex Legends’ esports scene. Other popular franchises, like Battlefield, are less present in esports, but Apex Legends has found the strongest footing in esports among the company’s catalogue. Only one other franchise was able to come close to Apex Legends’ dominance, and that was the football EA Sports FC game. 

The FC Pro 24 Open - Global Qualifier was EA Sports FC’s most popular event, interestingly, even more popular than the main event itself. The event saw players from all over the world prove themselves to be the best at the football game, and it set the current record for the game’s esports scene at 340K PV. While other events have come close to this total peak, the series is still waiting for another to top this event.

Before Electronic Arts goes private, which is expectedly happening in early 2027, there still is time for them to expand their already-pivotal esports legacy. Apex Legends and EA Sports FC are two names that have consistently entertained hundreds of thousands of fans in esports, and with the new funding from the PIF, EA remains positive that the future has avenues open to them, which they wouldn’t have as a public company.