However, it’s designed to be familiar yet fresh, with changes to allow players to take full advantage of everything that the game offers. That includes the naval warfare options that came with the latest season’s debut. Indeed, there’s even a shipwreck to investigate, and an aircraft carrier that you’re probably better served taking control of sooner rather than later. It’s probably a great place to try out the refined airplane controls coming with the new Top Gun update.

Battlefield 6 continues to add new content for us all to enjoy, and it’s all been good enough for the most part to justify the game being a top earner for EA last year. Wake Island is a great example of the developers pulling out all the stops to cater to fans, whether you’re contesting the shoreline or encountering enemy bunkers.

Of course, there are other “opportunities for destruction” that the accompanying announcement didn’t elaborate on, so you’ll have to try it first-hand. The trailer’s pretty interesting and is chaotic enough to get the adrenaline surging ahead of its August 18th launch.

The PC version is also slated to be the highest-performing in the series so far. PC players will also have granular control over frame rates and refresh rate settings, including 30 FPS, 60 FPS, 120 FPS, and Uncapped frame rates. Lower limits can be set for those with weaker systems to ensure that gameplay remains stable, while high-end PCs can opt for the Uncapped setting, allowing the game to “run as fast as it can in all scenarios”.

Going into further detail about the frame rate caps, EA has confirmed that Madden NFL 27 will allow players to set caps on gameplay and cutscene frame rates separately. Setting it to 60/30 FPS, for instance, will allow for 60 FPS gameplay while cutscenes run at 30 FPS. These settings can be paired with the resolution options, and users with weaker PCs can opt for higher-resolution cutscenes that run at a lower frame rate while ensuring their gameplay experience remains smooth.

As EA explains: “Gameplay and cutscenes can have different performance needs. For example, you may want lower gameplay settings to maintain a smoother frame rate during active play, while using higher cutscene settings for replays, team entrances, close-ups, and other presentation moments.”

Overall graphics settings are split between Global Visuals and Cutscene Visuals. The former affects overall visual fidelity via Low, Medium, High, or Ultra presets, while the latter affects cutscene quality. There are also advanced settings to tinker with, such as Advanced Hair (which sets the quality of player hair and its movement), Sideline Quality (changes the number and quality of characters shown along the sidelines), and Higher Texture Quality (which gives the choice of more detailed textures for surfaces that range from uniforms and helmets to field and stadium materials).

Players who want to tinker with the visual settings even more can find plenty of options, like Mesh Quality, Crowd Quality, 3D Grass, Shadow Quality, Ambient Occlusion Quality, and Bloom. There are also some presentation-focused settings, like High Res Circular DOF, which enables a higher-quality depth-of-field effect for areas that are typically out of the camera’s focus. This effect is most noticeable during close-ups, replays, and cinematic moments.

EA Sports had previously given us a deeper look at some of the new features of Madden NFL 27 earlier this month. Along with updates to rosters and visuals, the title will also include changes to its menus and even Ultimate Team. It will also feature the new Superstar G.O.A.T. Career Journey mode.

Well, EA Sports Madden NFL 27 is nearly here, and it’s building on a lot of the stuff from last year to give you more control over catches, tackles, formations, defensive assignments, and situational football to make the experience even more immersive and engaging. It’s turning the mechanics that its predecessor brought to the table, now presented with clarity and control to their players.

How is the upcoming title going to pull that off? We’ve been watching this one, and already thought of a few ways, beginning with:

1. Timing-Based Catching

Madden 26 did well to weave in parameters like player ratings, positioning, coverage, with aggressive, possession, and run-after-catch types, making for an innovative physics-driven catch-point system that relied on timing to an extent, but with successful throws largely determined by whether the correct type of throw was selected, and if the receiver’s ratings would allow for completion. That worked, yes, but it could also lead to drops of contested catches that felt too arbitrary for our taste.

Madden 27’s new Timing-Based Catching system adds a meter after a pass is thrown, with the player holding down the input button and releasing it with the right timing to select the catch type they want before the ball reaches the receiver. That’s a tight window in most cases, and a perfect release does improve the outcome while still factoring in 26’s parameters to determine success. There’s even the option to stick to the traditional system if the new changes don’t work for you, but we see no reason for this new mechanic to add a bit of the good kind of unpredictability into the mix.

2. Consolidated Defensive Controls

We were very happy with the expanded physics system and the defensive options it opened up in Madden 26. With several one-on-one interactions bringing timing mechanics, there was considerably more depth to tackling relative to older entries, but the inputs could get confusing in the heat of the moment until you trained your muscle memory.

Madden 27 has taken a clever approach to solving that problem, mapping hit sticks, cut sticks, lunge tackles, and wrap tackles to the right stick, with up, down, left, and right activating each one respectively. Improvements to arm tackles, drive-throughs, directional stiff arms, and tweaks to defender size and the tackles they can select are going to work well to make defending feel more intuitive, and perhaps even more competitive this time around. We’ll have to wait for the final release to decide on that, but we’re pretty excited nonetheless.

3. More Engaging Short Yardage Plays

The Leverage System allowed Madden 26 to improve blocking engagements, consolidating ratings, positioning, momentum, and control of the intended gap. Blocked Steering allowed for user-controlled defenders to influence outcomes instead of having them locked into animations. All of that worked to make trench play feel very good, but we felt it was at the expense of sneaks and goal-line pushes, which didn’t have a dedicated user-facing mechanic.

There’s a specialized short yardage system in Madden 27 that’s built around pile movements, congested box interactions, contextual animations, and a QB Sneak Meter, all of which work with existing rating and leverage systems to add new layers to the gameplay loop. The size of your timing window relies on the strength and weight of your interior linemen and quarterback, the number of defenders you have in the box, and factors like leverage, pressure, and others. Tush Push is making it to Madden, too!

4. Expanded Defensive Coverage

We liked Madden 26’s Custom Zones, and the functionality of manually adjusting defender zone depth before the snap was very nifty. Route Commit allowed for anticipating inside or outside-breaking routes, bringing an interesting risk-versus-reward kind of system to the table alongside improvements to Cover 4, Cover 2, match and defensive coverage, and more, to allow for reshaping individual zones or gambling on route directions.

Madden 27 is expanding that defensive control across the entire secondary, letting you alter comeback and safety depth and width, decide when zone defenders plaster receivers, roll coverage towards nasty-looking threats, or even quickly bracket individual targets. That’s a lot of added functionality without factoring checks designed to answer stacks, bunches, trips, and isolated receivers across Cover 3 Match, Quarters, Palms, and Cover 6.

5. Route Intent With WR/DB Battles

We’ve praised options to gamble on route directions in Madden 26, but we must point you towards how the initial press interaction could still remain largely focused on whether a receiver could successfully defeat the press. Your defenders needed to be aware of the ball before attempting interceptions too, making leverage relevant to defensive coverage strategies.

Madden 27 is building on that, adding route-aware press releases and sustained downfield jostling to make a receiver’s intended route influence how the attempt to win at the line. Defensive backs with strong coverage ratings can stay attached, disrupt receiver timings, and partially counter raw speed with technique if things line up correctly for them. That makes for a more physical and directional battle for both sides, translating into more involved gameplay for us all.

6. Expanded Automatic Motions

Motion-based origin play design received some major improvements last year, with more automatic motions, double-motion plays and automatic shifts, and improved defensive logic and more moving receivers in playbooks. It gave them authentic scripted movements which were attached to the play itself in most cases. Play-specific shifts being automatic was quite a nice touch in our book.

Of course, Madden 27 is letting plays move across eligible formations with the same personnel groupings, allowing for the same players to remain on the field, but with their alignment changing before the snap. That automatically opens up a load of possibilities like offensive intentions getting disguised, defensive ones getting revealed ahead of plan, or sequencing formations without switching up personnel. There’s also persistent substitutions directly from the play-call screen to consider as it’s a lovely complement to the formation-shift system.

7. Individual Adjustments As Reusable Game Plans

One of the best features of last year’s Madden was how your pre-snap strategy could include Custom Zones, Route Commits, stunts on compatible fronts, and alterations to defenses after an offensive motion had begun. But getting to them meant spending too much time navigating menus, and too little time in the thick of things when it mattered.

Madden 27 is attempting to change that, bringing important options to your fingers more quickly with Total Pre-Play Coverage, while Custom Adjustments lets you create, name, and save packages with defensive fronts, coverage behavior, pressure concepts, protection rules, stunts and twists, individual assignments, and routes and hot routes. You then access them at will from the play-call screen, which should cut down on that downtime spent in menus quite considerably.

8. More Adaptive Coach DNA

Coach DNA did well to differentiate CPU-controlled teams last year, using real coaching tendencies and data-driven play-calling that reflected each coach and situation pretty well. The system took account of score, down, distance, time, personnel, field position, and the weather while Adaptive Counters identified user tendencies and recommended plays to counter them. It was quite the debut for the new system, we must say.

Coach DNA 2.0 is taking things up a notch, letting coaches react more directly to what’s happening in a game, punishing repetitive strategies more regularly to discourage them, while also keeping matches alive by having more dynamic responses to player actions in a game. This time around, the AI isn’t just calling plays to reflect a situation and coach, but remembering how the game is unfolding and altering its strategies based on that

9. Coach Mode

Coach Suggestions in Madden 26 let the user remain in control of the selected player after the snap while providing useful advice based on team tendencies, game situations, and opponent behavior. The system acted as an advisor, but didn’t fully replace post-snap execution.

This year, Coach Mode is letting the CPU execute a play after the snap while you handle play-calling, personnel, and pre-snap decisions. There are a bunch of options like Auto Quarterback, Coach Suggestions (of course), pre-play audio and a comms cutoff, and the ability to designate a quarterback’s primary receiver and influence if an RPO should end in a pass or handoff. It’s something akin to a sideline coaching simulation that switches things up enough for it to be exciting all on its own.

10. Dynamic Weather During Games

Madden 26 had substantial upgrades to Football Weather with heavy rain, snow, and fog affecting visibility, movement, handling, fatigue, and player footing. It made the weather a gameplay system instead of a visual overlay, and set the foundation for what’s on offer this year.

In Madden 27, the weather could change during a game itself, with a dry opening quarter making way for a snowy fourth quarter and so on, requiring that you pay attention to conditions and prepare accordingly in order to retain a competitive edge over your opponents. Persistent weather conditions now actually evolving during a game is certainly a welcome change, and a very immersive one.

And that’s about it for this one. We’re excited to see Madden 27 attempt to switch things up on the scale that it’s attempting, which could make this year’s entry a very interesting addition to the franchise’s prestigious lineup. We’re not going to have to wait too long to see how it all comes together as this one’s global release inches ever closer, and we’re eager to get started.

The team has noted that, while the previous iterations of Wake Island were known for combined arms warfare that included infantry, vehicles, and aircrafts, all helping to shape the battle, the new version has been “reimagined around the modern combat sandbox” with a “stronger focus on naval warfare and large-scale conflict across land, air, and sea.”

Both sides of the new Wake Island map are flanked by aircraft carriers serving as HQs for both sides, and players will also have to deal with the waters around the island as they figure out how best to get to their objectives.

The Top Gun update also brings in two new game modes that have been designed around air combat and team coordination due to the presence of various objectives around the map. Along with this, as the update’s name might imply, it also serves as a collaboration between Battlefield 6 and the Top Gun movie franchise. The two new game modes are Carrier Strike for Battlefield 6, and Fighter Sweep for REDSEC.

Carrier Strike will involve both teams working to destroy each other’s carriers, with the island being home to many key sectors through which new vehicles could be deployed, and openings can be created. The carrier itself will be able to take damage, which will inevitably lead to battles escalating. The final objective for this mode will be in the guts of each carrier, upping the stakes for both teams.

Fighter Sweep is a new Gauntlet mission that involves taking down enemy jets and destroying stockpiles across the map. Doing so will help to boost the team’s score, and rivals can be challenged in dogfights, all while other players work together to complete objectives.

As a result of the Top Gun collaboration, Battlefield 6 is also getting the new Interdictor sniper rifle, the F/A-81F Super Spectre jet, and the F-74A Seacat jet. Both of the vehicles are two-seat jets, giving players plenty of ways to support their teams by bombarding the battlefield or taking down enemy aircrafts. Fort Lyndon is also getting a brand-new POI – the USS Grant – in the REDSEC battle royale mode. A crashed carrier, it will feature loot that is of higher value than other POIs on the map for the first two weeks after the update’s release.

Aside from new content, the Top Gun update will also bring with it a host of enhancements and improvements to the game. Among these is the new optional ADS Dispersion Crosshair that will give players a clearer idea of how their weapon’s recoil affects accuracy. Airplanes will also be easier to control thanks to Airplane Control Assist, giving newer players an easier way to fly their planes.

Portal is getting a few improvements as well, including an Advanced Editor that includes new, experimental tools like baked lighting and terrain editing to give players more options to design their Portal experiences. The Advanced Editor will be rolled out slowly, starting with the inclusion of the Custom Operation Metro experience by Bellum1988 in Portal’s SDK.

Battlefield 6 and REDSEC are available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

The studio has been quite enthusiastic about showing off the game’s changes and additions recently, with deep dives into its gameplay, FUT, and online modes coming along quite rapidly. The deep dive into feedback, how you can give it, and how it’s going to be used to shape the experience going forward is a pleasant surprise, though, and certainly not unwelcome.

The announcement is quite detailed, with links to channels you can use to get your thoughts on the game across, and of course, a registration link to a Closed Beta that’s going to run from August 5th to 25th. While only The Grounds and a select few modes will be available to you until August 18th, if you’re lucky enough to be selected, all modes will be playable after that. You might want to give all the requirements a thorough look before throwing your hat in the ring to ensure you have a solid chance of being selected.

EA Sports FC 27 launches on September 25th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox One, and PS4.

Well, we raised an eyebrow at first, but that was before we dived into a long list of stuff that’s being done to make this one stand out from its peers. There’s quite a bit to unpack before you’re equipped with everything you need to decide if this one’s worth picking up before a sale comes along, so let’s get started.

1. Release Date, Platforms, Editions, and Cross-Play

The Standard Edition of Madden NFL 27 launches on August 13, 2026, for the PC, PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S. You could get a head start on the fun if you’ve picked up the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle, which opens things up on August 10, while the EA Play 10-hour trial and existing MVP+ early access begins on August 6.

The Switch 2 is the only one among the available platforms that isn’t cross-play compatible, while all the others can have it working across Online Head-to-toHead, Franchise, Ultimate Team, and Superstar. You should remember that Franchise remains in live beta, and that it’s recommended you start a new league instead of enabling it on a save you’d rather not lose. Also, the PS5 Pro version’s targeting over 100 fps with its Performance option, while there’s a similar one targeting a more modest 60 fps on the Switch 2.

2. A New Approach to Defense

EA’s been leading with this one, and for good reason. You’re getting a lot of options to tweak defensive plays, with comebacks and safeties getting depth and width settings, controls for plaster behaviours, roll coverage on specific threats, bracketing individual receivers, and having more comprehensive responses to stacks and bunch formations.

This goes beyond merely strengthening defenders to being a potentially effective solution to making defensive plays bring more football-aware and predictable reactions from defenders in the heat of a match, making things much more authentic for the ones running those plays.

3. More Physical WR/DB Battles

The direction in which a receiver needs to release is now accounted for in press releases, with receivers running stands attempting to gain inside leverage while the opposite goes for receivers working a corner route or running out. Combine that with expanded down field jostling, and you could see plays where defenders with strong coverage ratings are quite disruptive to the timing of opponent plays, neutralize speed, and stay connected across the field.

That’s a potentially greater emphasis on leverage, ratings, and route intent while making one-on-one coverage feel less random, all of which are welcome additions to make the gameplay loop feel further polished from a fine offering last year.

4. Timing-Based Catching

There’s a new skill check for you to keep in mind, as Madden 27 is bringing you a way to influence catches without manually switching between receivers. You get to hold aggressive, progression, or run-after catches, releasing the button within a specific timing window before your receiver gets their hands on the ball.

How generous that window is depends on your difficulty, receiver ratings, catch type and complexity, and your coverage. The traditional ratings-driven catch system is there for those of you who want it, but this one should make things feel like accurate throws aren’t dropped just because the game couldn’t keep up. That’s been an annoyance in the past and we’re glad there’s a step towards fixing it.

5. Rebuilt Short Yardage

There are improvements to the trench interactions, pile movements, contextual examinations, and a snap-timing mechanic to goal-line stands, quarterback sneaks, and fourth-and-inches situations that should improve how they feel. Perfect timing gives you a better shot at creating a push but your ratings, defensive numbers, and pressure still count as factors.

The Tush Push is a Madden exclusive this year, while expanded run blocking controls and the addition of gap integrity and defense aggression settings work well with adjustments to the green-window QB sneak results that were a tad too inconsistent in the beta.

6. Tackle Stick Reworks

You can now use your right stick to take different defensive actions, such as up for a hit stick, down for a cut, left for a lunge tackle, and right for a wrap tackle.

That’s going to be excellent when you want to defend without taking your thumb off your right stick, and with expansions to arm tackles, momentum driven collisions, directional stiff arms, and drive-through tackles, holding down the fort could be easier than ever in this one.

7. More Control Over Formation Shifts And Play-Call Submissions

You can now retain the same personnel when selecting a play and moving it over to a compatible formation. That’s helpful if you want to disguise offensive intentions or alter defensive recognition and should help you bring realistic sequences to life without having to rebuild it all from scratch every time inspiration strikes.

You can also change personnel directly from your play-call screen with substitutions staying active after they’re made. That’s useful when you’re trying to manage Wear and Tear, matchups, and specialized packages without hitting the pause menu too often. There have been fixed to those Formation Shift control issues from the beta in case you were wondering.

8. Total Pre-Play Control

Reorganised pre-snap controls make important commands like leverage, underneath or over-the-top coverage, pass commit, Smart Zones, and receiver double-teams require fewer inputs to execute.

Custom Adjustments let you create packages containing fronts, coverage behaviour, protection rules, pressure looks, hot routes, and even individual assignments as long as you allow athletes to become set before stacking other adjustments. That minimizes pre-snap movement and is sure to be quite a boon to all you online veterans out there.

9. More Intelligent Coach and Player AI

Coach DNA 2.0 allow a lot of variation in philosophies, tendencies, and adaptive behaviours among AI coaches, letting them respond to repeated route concepts, adjust run-ass tendencies, and sequence complementary plays,

Coach Speak recommendations for over 50 launch scenarios are included alongside machine-learning-based ball carrier pathing which should improve lane selection, cutback recognition, and leverage reads as the AI is trained on successful user-controlled rushing decisions. Just how effective it gets is going to be something we’re waiting to evaluate in the final build.

10. Hot and Cold, Abilities, and Home-Field Advantage Are Connected

Players enter Hot or COld states based on performance, with the former doing better and having the ability to access X-Factors, while the opposite is true for the latter. Abilities now use Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers with the higher tiers bringing benefits other than improved stats.

Home-field advantage is also returning, with crowd noise, communication problems, weather, altitude, and stadium-specific factors hampering visiting teams. Of course, all of it remains disabled In online Ultimate Teams.

11. Dynamic Weather Indeed

The weather is more than just a visual effect, but an active parameter that can change during a game, with intensifying rain or snow, and wind affecting how you approach passing or kicking.

It’s quite deep-looking since conditions are tied to locations and seasonal calendars and effects like snow react to players, and they show up on uniforms and gear. Franchise is where we expect this one to shine with an effect on weekly game planning and late-season strategy coming into play.

12. Coach Mode

This one’s interesting as it lets the CPU take over post-snap execution while you call plays and do everything else prior to it. Your options include AAuto Quarterback, Auto Snap, Coach Suggestions, pre-play audio and commus cutoffs, and more.

Having the cutoff enables cuts out the interface when the play clock is at 15 seconds, making it closer to replicating NFL headset rules. You could designate your primary read on quarterbacks, or set hand-offs or passes to an RPO all while a dedicated camera gives you a sideline perspective. It’s definitely something we’re pretty stoked to check out.

13. The New Personality Engine

The new personality engine gives players different motivations and behavioural profiles, with 65 types of DNA, all capable of evolving to influence how players respond to contracts, team performances, usage, roles, and changing career circumstances.

EA claims that previous scripted scenarios are making way for organic situations that are generated by the league with holdouts, trade demands, and contract disputes emerging from the personalities and varying circumstances across teams without being limited to the user’s roster. That’s definitely going to shake things up a bit if it’s executed well enough and we can’t wait to find out.

14. Rebuilt Weekly Flow and League News

The previous weekly flow has been replaced with Emergent Actions, with the current league’s events generating decisions such as role disputes, contract issues, and roster concerns. Delegated decisions show you your staff’s intentions so you get to confirm if that’s what you intend to do.

With a new persistent ticker, picture-in-picture, breaking news alerts, Scott Hanson audio, rumors, filters, and a News Center that you can pull up anywhere in Franchise, things are looking very different in Madden 27’s take on the popular mode.

15. Overhauled Contracts and Negotiations

Contract discussions are now spread out over multiple sessions that track patience, interest, and other unexpected developments. Feedback from the beta has resulted in allowing players to define initial years, salary, and bonuses while clear information about positional depth and a clearer breakdown of each offer make decisions go more smoothly.

Support for guaranteed contracts, void years, incentives, no-trade clauses, customized structures, and negotiations before the final contract year are all sure to add value to the gameplay loop, as will franchise tags, transition tags, and multiple restricted free-agent traders.

16. Deeper Free Agency and Long-Term League Logic

While Free Agent Frenzy turns the opening market into a simultaneous bidding event, players no longer sign with the first club to approach them; instead, offers are evaluated together when a round advances. Commissioners can set up up to 12 rounds, and you get to withdraw pending offers and view interested teams before committing cap space.

Undrafted rookies get their own signing windows while CPU-drive teams make more context-aware trades, and a more robust approach to multi-season progression are all factors to look forward to as well.

17. A Fuller College-to-Pro Journey

Expansions to Superstar mean that your Road to Glory athletes from CF27 can be imported complete with their college accomplishments and decisions. An athlete’s Road to Glory Draft Score determines their draft position, while newly created players have multiple career starting points to choose from.

Branching progression trees spanning Core, Mental, Physical, Speciality, and X-Factor ensure that you’re going in a direction that makes sense to you, while Rare Cap Breakers and archetypes such as Tight End, Edge Rusher, and Free Safety are among the playable positions. A redesigned HUD is there to give you access to crucial information without a pause menu breaking things up.

18. Consequences and a Proper Endgame in Superstar

A Superstar’s Sphere of Influence now lets them affect free agency, trade demands, teammate trading, or their retirement with relationships that affect team composure. Poor performance could see you lose your starting job or even get cut, traded, or forced to attempt a comeback through the practice squad.

The G.O.A.T. Journey tracks Skill, Legacy, and Popularity across community Leaderboards, and ends with Hall of Fame voting. A free and Premium Pass could make progression easier if you don’t feel up to the grind, but 99 OVR remains achievable without additional purchases per EA, with five to seven career seasons needed to get to it.

19. More Player Development Controls in Ultimate Team

Players specific Skill Points earned through gaempaly, item objectives, or bought in-game can be used to upgrade eligible items and players can upgrade multiple tiers in a single shot. Archetype choices allow the same base item to be useful across different builds.

Evos increase maximum ratings, alter archetypes, add abilities, and even expand chemistry options while Ultimate Captains are viable throughout the year before they can be powered down and replaced. Adjustments to ranked matchmaking divisions, and seasonal updates on Solo Seasons and Championships make for an interesting new take on Madden 27’s online offerings.

20. More Contextual and Team-Specific Presentation

Expect special graphics, music, and commentary on seasonal broadcasts and holidays while Halftime Reports cover impact players and playoff races. Weekly Recaps are going to remind you of injuries, MVP standings, trade alerts, stat leaders, and Players of the Week.

Drone shows, primetime introductions, stadium-specific traditions, and a whole lot more are all set to make this one stand out on the visual front, and make you feel like you’re right there with your team.

Well, that’s quite a lot of change for an annual release, and Madden NFL 27 looks like a very ambitious effort to shake off iterative improvements to improve several areas like defence, the Superstar endgame, pre-play customization, and the new personality Engine. But we’re still recommending cautious optimism, as a lot of these changes hinge on AI consistency and tuning, and whether all these additions can keep producing believable results after multiple franchise seasons.

However, we don’t have to wait too long to find out, and we’re going to be taking the field as soon as we get the chance with this one. We hope to see you there!

Along with this, he also noted that the company wants to cut its annual costs down by $700 million. This will involve cuts of $170 million in what has been described as “organizational efficiencies.” While the company hasn’t outright said it, the phrasing indicates that EA is bracing itself for a large round of layoffs to be able to hit its targets. This comes despite the company’s EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) sitting at around $1.5 billion, allowing it to comfortably pay off the interest.

As for the future of the company, it is currently unknown where EA’s layoffs will begin. It is quite likely that the company is now looking at ways to maximize its revenues through popular games like its yearly sports releases and live-service titles like Battlefield 6 and Apex Legends. Where that leaves development teams like BioWare, which primarily focus on single-player experiences, remains to be seen.

In announcing that the deal had been completed, Silver Lake CEO Egon Durban said in a statement that he is looking forward to investing in ways to improve the game development process by making use of AI, which could also play a major role in upcoming layoffs.

“As long-term investors in technology, we admire how EA’s innovation fuels imagination and human connection,” he said. “We’re proud to join with PIF and Affinity Partners to invest heavily in EA’s growth, including what AI can do to enhance game development and player experience, and excited to partner with Andrew and the EA team as they raise the bar for fans everywhere.”

For his part, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in a statement that the company is looking forward to working with its new owners and “invest boldly” in ways to grow the company. “We’re entering this next chapter from a position of strength with partners who share our vision and ambition,” he said. “Together, we’ll invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences for the hundreds of millions of players and fans who inspire us every day.”

The deal to acquire EA is valued at around $55 billion, with EA taking on quite a bit of debt to make payments. Shareholders in the company are being paid $210 per share now that the deal has wrapped up, which also includes many people currently still working at the company.

While the acquisition was announced back in September 2025, in the following month, a report popped up indicating that many developers working at BioWare have been anxious about the deal potentially leading to layoffs across the studio. “I’ve been doing it since last year, but I’m making sure I have a portfolio ready and feelers out for other jobs,” said one developer. “Kind of feels like a matter of time.”

EA's annual Ebitda is around $1.5 billion, which should be enough to service the interest payments. But the publisher has told debt investors that it will cut $700 million in annual costs including $170 million in "organizational efficiencies," per Bloomberg. In other words: mass layoffs

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2026-08-05T00:34:00.106Z

In a statement, CEO Andrew Wilson has said that the company will work with its new owners to “invest boldly” to ensure the growth of the company by working on next-generation games and experiences.

“This moment recognizes the extraordinary people whose creativity, ambition and passion have made EA one of the world’s leading interactive entertainment companies. We’re entering this next chapter from a position of strength with partners who share our vision and ambition. Together, we’ll invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences for the hundreds of millions of players and fans who inspire us every day.”

With the deal having closed, the PIF has now taken on 93.4 percent ownership in the company. Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, on the other hand, have taken on 5.5 percent and 1.1 percent ownership, respectively. As per the terms of the deal, shareholders are being paid $210 per EA share owned in cash. At the time, this was noted as being a premium of 25 percent over the company’s share price as of the market’s closing on September 25th, 2025, which saw each share valued at $168.32.

“Having been a minority investor in the company for more than five years, we have a deep understanding of EA’s unique platform, massive global sports and gaming franchises, and iconic IP,” said the PIF head of international investments and deputy governor, Turqi Alnowaiser. “Entertainment and sports are key areas of strategic focus for PIF, and are among the fastest growing and evolving sectors around the world. Together, the Consortium is uniquely positioned to be a long-term partner to EA’s management team in driving sustained growth and innovation for EA and the industry.”

Silver Lake CEO Egon Durban, in his own statement, has implied that EA might start seeing heavier investments into AI-based technologies. While the form these technologies will take remains unknown, Durban has noted that he is keen to see what AI can do to enhance the game development process as well as player experience.

“As long-term investors in technology, we admire how EA’s innovation fuels imagination and human connection. We’re proud to join with PIF and Affinity Partners to invest heavily in EA’s growth, including what AI can do to enhance game development and player experience, and excited to partner with Andrew and the EA team as they raise the bar for fans everywhere.”

The closure of the deal comes shortly after EA confirmed that it had obtained all the necessary regulatory approvals. Interestingly, this came despite US lawmakers asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the deal before outright approving it.

Building on the momentum from yesterday’s FUT deep dive is a new look at The Grounds, a social hub with a lot of fun activities and three distinct, ever-evolving districts themed around football culture from famous global locations. You’ve got Monclair with its French-inspired cage pitches and metropolitan vibe. Zeiza brings Argentina’s Potrero spirit to life, and Parkside is a fair representation of the UK’s football culture to begin with.

Of course, it’s not just the places you’re going to but the faces you meet and the things you get to do with them that will keep you coming back to The Grounds. You’ve got a few mentors to see, such as Alex Hunter, Kylian Mbappé, Chloe Kelly, and Paulo Dybala, each of whom is going to push you towards specific activities spread across club leagues and playoffs, live tournaments with varying house rules, small-sided games, stadium drop-ins, Kickabouts, and more in a long list of things for you to take on.

This is a great place to chill, and perhaps even a world that lets you leave the trouble of your career behind for longer than you’d care to admit. It’s also a great way to try honing those skills that seem so much more important this time around.

Interestingly, the note confirms that it largely seemed to happen when the players in question were either changing attachments on the SOR-300SC, using Custom Search, or playing on maps with large bodies of water.

The arrival of the bug was seemingly related to the release of Nvidia’s driver version 610.74, and while the development team for Battlefield 6 was investigating the issues, they had recommended players temporarily roll back to driver version 596.49 in the meantime. At the time, one of the core reasons behind drivers crashing in Battlefield 6 seemed to revolve around large bodies of water, which also coincided with the recent release of the Tsuru Reef map that kicked off Season 4 of the shooter.

“We’re investigating an issue on PC where some players may experience a GPU driver crash when playing on maps with large bodies of water, including Tsuru Reef,” said the company at the time. “Based on our current data, the issue appears to affect Nvidia GPUs, with reports more concentrated among players using GeForce RTX 50 Series cards. The issue does not appear to affect all players using these GPUs.”

As for other details about the update, EA has noted through the Battlefield Comms social media account that the development team was focused on addressing issues affecting deployment, aiming, Challenges, vehicles, maps, Portal, UI, audio, and visual presentation.

Players can look forward to general improvements to gameplay reliability across various aspects, from water transitions to deployment and vehicle behavior. The menus have also seen some changes, with updates to Challenge tracking and corrections made to UI and UX issues affecting the Loadout screen, among others. Multiple maps and Portal experiences have also seen quite a few bugs surrounding collision, interaction, audio, and visuals fixed.

As for what Battlefield 6 players can look forward to in the future, the development team at Battlefield Studios recently revealed its roadmap for the current season. As part of this, Battlefield 6 will see the return of the fan-favorite map from older titles, Wake Island, on August 18th. A new game mode dubbed Top Gun: Carrier Strike will also be introduced, along with a host of new additions, like the F74A Seacat 2-seater jet and the new Interdiction weapon.

Finally, September 15th will see the release of the Tidal Strike update that brings in the Deep Six collection event, the Diver’s Knife melee weapon, as well as some new features for RedSec mode, like new discoverable secrets dubbed the Phantom Program, and Proximity Chat. The latter will first see some thorough testing through Battlefield Labs before it is released for the battle royale mode.

Battlefield 6 is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.