this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026
419 points (99.1% liked)

Games

50252 readers
1665 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca 120 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Well that’s the end of EA. The owners will tear it apart and bleed it dry.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 67 points 1 week ago (3 children)

People have been predicting the death of EA for over twenty years.

Meanwhile, they release another Madden and another FIFA and another Sims and another Star Wars, then mint themselves another $7B. Nevermind that all of these games are just reskinned copies of the games they've been releasing going back to the mid-90s.

[–] TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.ca 46 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yesn't.

That may have been somewhat true in the past, but it is hard to articulate just how big of a hole they are in right now. The leveraged buyout has pushed EA's debt to over $20Billion USD.

They make that money back or they might not, but they are going to absolutely pillage and destroy the company in the process. The word that often follows "leveraged buyout" is "bankruptcy". It's a tale as old as corporate history.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Maybe. But there's an enormous amount of money to wring out of EA, even with the debts. And you can go back decades to read about their deplorable labor practices. This isn't even the first time EA has been subjected to this kind of aggressive cash hungry squeeze.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Another Sims? Don't be daft. They'll release another Sims DLC and get all the money with much less effort.

Seriously, 4 has been a cash cow for over a decade now, with biannual expansion packs.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I did a buad report on EA going on 20 years ago. TLDR they're basically Martin Shkreli but a corporation.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Like Martin Shkreli in that they'll increase the price of a life-saving drug 20x without consequences, or like Martin Shkreli in that they'll go to prison for defrauding rich investors?

Seriously fucked up that the second was considered a crime, but not the first, in Shkreli's case.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Jaysyn@lemmy.world 86 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't care what they do. Even if I hadn't already been boycotting EA for 10+ years, I'd never install Saudi-owned ring-0 "anticheat" software on any of my computers.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Boycott harder!

[–] thethrilloftime69@feddit.online 51 points 1 week ago

Well my days is not buying EA products are certainly coming to a middle.

[–] BottleBoardBakon@lemmy.ml 47 points 1 week ago

Shit company gets worse

[–] northendtrooper@lemmy.ca 44 points 1 week ago (3 children)

A lot of people are glancing over the fact that now a country is running this Video Game company. I'm not betting that the Saudis will: Open up old IPs, take care of labor costs, respect the players, not install spyware onto customer's machines and report their party affiliation or any government secrets stored on said machine.

If you didn't trust EA being run by a private company then I bet you won't trust EA being ran by a government.

[–] FoxAlive@lemmy.zip 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Games are essentially attack vectors with kernal level access to your computer.

The united States is looking at doing something about Chinese gaming companies, yet we are okay with handing over what is essentially a back door over to the Saudis.

I just think its weird what malware we are okay with.

[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Games are essentially attack vectors with kernal level access to your computer.

Some games, with very specific anticheat. Let's not spread misinformation.

That being said, yeah I don't get it either - I refused to play Valorant for this reason.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

All games with kernel level anticheat, that isnt't open souce.

There, fixed it for you.

Kernel level AC is literally a root kit, in some cases also a boot kit.

It has never made any sense to allow this shit on your computer. Sorry if marketing convinced you otherwise.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] EarMaster@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Even worse: Jared Kushner is involved as well.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 34 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Anyone who did not see this coming is an idiot.

EA is... in a loooot of debt lol. Thats why they needed a buy out.

[–] auzy1@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago (6 children)

It takes a lot of money to make the same games for 25 years straight, change the front logo, the names of the players, make tiny tweaks and market it.

Maybe they need to start releasing Sims 2025, 2026, etc.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] Nilz@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

They are in a lof of debt because of the buy out.

[–] PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (3 children)

They're also in a lot of debt from making dog shit for the last 15 years.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 30 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The liquidation shall continue until ~~moral~~ stakeholder wealth improves

[–] ZippyMammoth@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago

While* stakeholder wealth improves

[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Well, there goes the last remnant of possibility for a dragon age or mass effect revival.

Replaying Dishonored 2, still mad about Arkane.

It’s like the long game is to kill gaming from two directions. Game Studio deaths and making PC components unaffordable for working class.

[–] mereo@piefed.ca 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That's what I'm worried about. I played the Mass Effect Trilogy several times and they're my all times favourite.

But this Saudi Arabia deal is not good for the industry because as we know, Saudi Arabia is a very conservative muslim country and it will destroy the creative process.

[–] nullspace@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The funny thing is Mass Effect destroyed the series themselves with Andromeda. No Saudi help necessary.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago (5 children)

It’s like the long game is to kill gaming from two directions. Game Studio deaths and making PC components unaffordable for working class.

They can kill AAA gaming, but devs will just learn to adapt to the hardware limitations of their time. If you've got a device you can install stuff on, devs will figure out how to make it run games. They may not be as shiny, which is practically sacrilege to the AAA player community, but so long as we have hardware, we'll have games.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Do you know, why EA is the worst company in the whole US of A? It's because Ubisoft is in France.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I don’t understand why you’d buy something and then essentially destroy what it was. Everyone sees you doing this, are they actually going to make money?

[–] LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yes. Just like a farmer can make money butchering their cattle, these private equity type fucks always find a way to pocket every penny.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] dellish@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I can't wait to play Battlefield 7: Saudi Victory Over The Jews.

fml

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 week ago

I would say "never has there been a more moral case for pirating the sh*t out of everything this company makes", since they always exploit and lay off their workers after projects are done, shut down studios, etc...

...but most of their stuff is recycled sports drek, so don't even pirate it. Just ignore it, and tell everyone you know how horrible EA is and has always been, and who its new owners are. Hopefully they'll never buy their crap again either.

[–] Tigeroovy@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

But the CEO’s job will be okay right?

[–] PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Just wait for the article that the CEO is getting a $700 million bonus.

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

They paid 53 bil for something that has only 300 mil /year in profits?

A 200 year ROI (interest on the 20 bil loan for the leveraged buyout that ea itself will need to pay) doesn't seems too bad

[–] DisasterTransport@startrek.website 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Judging by MBS's steam account, the next Battlefield is going to be an extraction shooter about the coalition of the willing securing pipelines and putting out oil field fires. Also Tehran doesn't get nuked in the game, it got nuked 20 years ago, and this is framed as a Bad Thing With A Silver Lining. The Line is your primary hub city and your ground vehicles are things like solar powered Abrams and cybertruck but good

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Nickelalloy@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Imagine of lots of game developers that gets fired now goes out and start working on indie-games.

[–] knuk@piefed.ca 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Going indie from scratch means going no income for years for a project that may never succeed, not everyone can afford the risk. Existing indie studio have very limited hiring capacity compared to the amount of people getting laid off from big companies.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 week ago

Leveraged buyouts should be illegal

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

CEO Andrew Wilson is set for a massive payday. The company’s last SEC filing before going private pointed to a $77 million payout for the last fiscal year, double the number that was previously reported.

One of the finer aspects of unfettered capitalism.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 week ago (3 children)

So, destroy its game making capabilities and just make money for the next 20 years from of microtransaction on existing content.

Kinda of a natural progression of AAA game publishers given the way things are nowadays.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] ours@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Bloodbath... Saudi Arabia

How literally are we talking here?

[–] balgruuf@nord.pub 6 points 1 week ago

Unnecessary employees will be invited to the nearest consulate

[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 week ago

Gaming layoffs are now on track to eclipse 2024 and 2025 combined.

[–] TheVoiceOfRaison@thelemmy.club 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Mass Effect team must be shitting bricks.

[–] mursejoy@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Should have made something worth playing in the last 10+ years then.

These legacy studios with expensive old heads are going to be a thing of the past.

[–] sen@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago

Thank you for reminding me that just like Todd Howard whoever is in charge of Mass Effect has seriously shit the bed and deserves to get fired (though it'll never happen, instead their studio will get gutted and they'll get a raise).

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Bakkoda@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sell 700 one million dollar skins

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] pnwpixel@programming.dev 7 points 1 week ago

And? What fucks are there left to give about a publically malicious/murderous government buying a publically malicious company which publically destroys their creatives ability to stay alive in this capitalist shitscape?

I want the heart and soul of those studios (the creatives) to create a tsunami of indie studios to revive the long lost connection between the gamers and the makers.

We have to support indie devs if we want gaming to be better for all involved.

[–] Tronn4@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Aaaand there's the other shoe

load more comments
view more: next ›