Amazon is reportedly planning to acquire Electronic Arts

Amazon is reportedly planning to acquire Electronic Arts.

According to USA Today sources, Amazon is set to announce on Friday that it has tabled a formal offer to purchase the FIFA, Madden and Apex Legends publisher.

It was recently claimed that EA has been actively pursuing a sale or merger for some time.

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In May, a Puck report claimed EA had recently held talks with Disney, Apple, Amazon and Comcast-NBCUniversal over a potential sale.

The report claimed sources had indicated that the FIFA and Battlefield maker “has been persistent” in pursuing a sale and has “only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft–Activision deal”.

“Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow [CEO Andrew] Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company,” it added.

During EA’s quarterly earnings call this month, Wilson was asked about reports that the company is pursuing a sale.

“First, I’m sure you don’t expect me to comment on rumors and speculation from some small red media outlets,” he responded. “But be that as it may, I would tell you, I think we are in an incredible position. We’re soon to be the largest standalone independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment in the world.

“I think we have the most incredible teams in our industry and the planet. As [chief operating officer] Laura [Miele] spoke to earlier, we’re attracting more and more incredible creative talent we have a community that’s 600 million strong that is growing and certainly, we’re well on our way to aspirations of being able to engage 1 billion people in play across the planet.

“I think we’re growing across platforms, we’re growing across business models, and we’re growing across geographies,” Wilson continued. “And in a world where gaming is becoming more important to the lives of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who will be the leading generation in terms of consumption, entertainment for the future, I don’t think we could be in a stronger position as a standalone company.

“Our objective always and my objective as CEO of this company is always to take care of our people, our players and our shareholders. And should there ever be a way for us to do that differently than the way we’re doing it today, I, of course, have to be open to that. But I would tell you today, we feel very, very confident and excited for our future.”

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M&A activity in the games industry hit a record $85 billion in 2021 and is expected to comfortably surpass that total this year.

According to investment banking firm Drake Star Partners, the first half of the year saw $107 billion in total deal value for 651 announced and/or closed deals.

These include Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard, Take-Two and Zynga’s $12.7 billion merger, and Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Destiny maker Bungie.