EA: It’s in the game
If you thought Electronic Arts (EA), makers of annual sports games like FC, Madden, NHL, and plenty of other non-sporty titles, couldn’t get any worse, think again. Bloomberg reports that the company is nearing a deal that would see it go private, valuing it at roughly $50 billion.
The deal, which involves Silver Lake Management — an American private equity firm — as well as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, would make it one of the largest buyouts in 2025. According to people familiar with the matter, the deal could be closed as soon as this week.
EA has been a publicly traded company since 1990, although Saudi Arabia’s PIF already owns nearly 10% of the company. As Reuters reports, Saudi Arabia is interested in taking the company private to reap the rewards of EA’s yearly sports-title releases, which offer steady and reliable returns.
This would be just another infinity stone in Saudi’s gaming gauntlet, having already procured heavy investments into companies like Take-Two Interactive, Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, and Embracer Group. That’s not to mention the PIF already owning the entirety of Niantic’s gaming division, including Pokémon Go.
Instagram and Facebook are getting rid of the ads, for a price
Anybody who’s used Instagram or Facebook before (so… everyone) knows just how horrific the onslaught of ads has become in recent years, regardless of how you use the platforms. On Friday, Meta unveiled its plans to allow users over the age of 18 in the UK to pay a monthly fee to rid the platforms of ads — all done to comply with regulatory changes coming down from the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Users will be able to pay £3/m (∼R70/m) for the privilege of no ads if they go through the web, while going through Android or iOS platforms will bring that price up to £4/m. The subscription will automatically apply to any Facebook and Instagram accounts added to the Meta Accounts Centre, though these accounts will still be forced to pay an extra £2/m (per account), on top of the initial £3/m fee.
Should the subscription prove popular, or if other countries apply similar pressure to Meta’s jugular, the subscriptions might eventually make it out of the UK. We’re willing to bet there’s plenty of folk willing to pay an even heftier fee for ad-free doomscrolling.
Meta just killed the vibe, announces Vibes
In what is arguably Meta’s most foolish move in quite some time (and we’re talking about a company that renamed itself to better align with the future of the metaverse), the company has announced Vibes, “a new feed in the Meta AI app” that is solely dedicated to delivering low-quality, AI-generated slop. No, seriously.
“As you browse, you’ll see a range of AI-generated videos from creators and communities. The feed will become more personalized over time, and if something catches your eye, you can create your own video, remix what you see, and share it with friends and followers,” Meta said.
The complete lack of effort shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with artificial intelligence, especially Meta AI. Not only does creating a post only take a few seconds, but Meta is even encouraging users to simply “remix what you see,” which further promotes low-effort content. We should be glad, really. Vibes might just become Meta’s home of AI slop, and attract kids and older folk like a moth to a flame.
Unfortunately, there’s also the chance we won’t end up so lucky. While confined to Vibes, the content cannot find us. Unless its users (of which most are likely bots) begin to share their “content” to both Facebook and Instagram, doubling down on an issue that has plagued Meta’s platforms for years.
YouTube’s AI Laboratory is here
YouTube is long past the time for experimenting with AI, but the launch of what it’s calling YouTube Labs contradicts that idea. YouTube Labs will be the home of all of Google’s AI experiments on YouTube going forward, where users can “test drive” in-development AI features.
And the first experiment? AI-powered music hosts that sound mightily similar to Spotify’s own AI DI, X. The hosts are designed to “deepen your listening experience by sharing relevant stories, fan trivia, and fun commentary about your favorite music on the YouTube Music app.” We’ll take its word for the time being.
If that sounds like something you’d be interested in trying, too bad. Only a “limited number of US-based participants can test early prototypes and experiments and influence the future of YouTube.’ For now, anyway. YouTube Premium members are already privy to early-access features, not necessarily related to AI, in the YouTube app. YouTube Labs may expand elsewhere, eventually.
