Game On: PIF set to take nearly full ownership of Electronic Arts

“Game On” is The Fly’s weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks.

EA/PIF: Saudi Arabia’s government investment fund, the Public Investment Fund, PIF, is set to take nearly full ownership of Electronic Arts (EA), Ben Dummett and Eliot Brown of The Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing a filing. The fund has teamed up with buyout firm Silver Lake and Affinity Partners to purchase EA for $55B including debt in a deal. The consortium is funding the deal with $36.4B in equity and borrowing $20B of debt.

XBOX/FOXCONN: Foxconn (HNHPF) and Luxshare intend to add millions of gaming devices to Vietnam’s annual output, reinforcing the Southeast Asian country’s position in the global supply of gaming systems, Reuters’ Phuong Nguyen (MSFT) Xbox gaming devices, parts of the consoles, and other unspecified electromagnetic devices, the author said, citing a company document sent to the environment department of the northern Bac Ninh province. Meanwhile, Luxshare-ICT intends to manufacture up to 4.5M game consoles per year at a factory in Vietnam, the author noted.

PS STORE: Sony‘s (SONY) PlayStation business said in a(TTWO) “NBA 2K26.” Other top-selling games in the EU last month on the PS Store were “EA Sports FC 26,” “ARC Raiders,” “Battlefield 6,” and “Dispatch.”

Click here to check out recent Media Buzz Sentiment on Sony as measured by TipRanks.

ROBLOX: Russia’s internet and media regulator Roskomnadzor has blocked Snapchat (SNAP) and Roblox (RBLX), saying the platforms were used for “extremist and terrorist” activity, Business Insider’s Matthew Loh (AAPL) FaceTime citing similar reasons.

Meanwhile, Freedom Capital this week initiated coverage of Roblox with a Hold rating and $99 price target. The shares deserve a premium to the broader video game peer group, with Roblox growing at a “best-in-class” rate and generating substantial amounts of cash flow, the analyst tells investors in a research note. However, Freedom believes legal and regulatory risks, as well as the potential for slowing user growth, as Roblox cracks down on fake accounts may bring “choppy waters ahead.”