Electronic Arts officially went private on 4 August 2026, completing the $55 billion takeover first announced in September 2025. The company is now controlled by an investor consortium made up of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, bringing one of the world’s largest game publishers into a very different ownership structure. For racing fans, the timing is particularly interesting because EA remains responsible for the official Formula 1 game franchise while its former WRC programme has already reached the end of the road. At the same time, the Saudi-backed Esports World Cup has removed traditional sim racing from its 2026 lineup and replaced its previous racing presence with Trackmania. On Tuesday 4 August 2026, Electronic Arts ceased to be a publicly traded company after the acquisition formally closed. The consortium completed the $55 billion all-cash transaction, with EA shareholders receiving $210 per share and the company’s stock ceasing to trade on Nasdaq. EA remains headquartered in Redwood City, California, and Andrew Wilson continues as CEO under the new ownership structure. EA confirmed the completion of the transaction in its official announcement. There is an important distinction here: the acquisition itself is not new. EA first announced the agreement with PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners on 29 September 2025, and shareholders approved the transaction on 22 December 2025. What changed on 4 August 2026 is that the deal actually closed, EA became privately held and the consortium formally took control of the company. That distinction matters because this is not an article claiming that a previously unknown takeover suddenly appeared this week. The new development is that the proposed ownership structure has become the actual ownership structure, which means questions about strategy, investment and cost management are no longer hypothetical questions about a pending transaction. For