The main events from the weekend (September 27-28)

Media outlets have reported on EA's plans to become a private company again, Brazil decided to ban the sale of loot boxes in games to minors, and Hades II's peak online players on Steam exceeded 112,000 people—here's a recap of the main events in the gaming industry over the past weekend.

Electronic Arts (EA) no longer wants to be a public company, reports The Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, EA has decided to delist and has nearly completed buyout negotiations with investors. These investors include the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners. Sources from The Wall Street Journal claim that the deal values EA at $50 billion, and if it goes through, it will be the largest leveraged buyout in history.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a law banning the sale of loot boxes to underage gamers. According to the law, games with loot boxes will be rated 18+ in the country. The law will come into effect in March 2026.
Youtuber Mujin released a video discussing the controversy surrounding PuffPals: Island Skies—a farming simulator based on plush toys from the company Fluffnest. The game was announced in 2022 with considerable buzz. Fluffnest managed to raise $2.56 million on Kickstarter against a goal of $75,000, but the simulator has yet to be released. Gradually, the company became less communicative, and in May 2025, it was revealed that Fluffnest had gone bankrupt. The story might have ended there, but Fluffnest publicly assured that PuffPals: Island Skies was still in development despite everything. The company reported issues with their outsource collaborators at Room 8 Studio, which was tasked with developing the simulator, but Fluffnest intends to complete the development independently. This was their last update on Kickstarter. Currently, Room 8 Studio is suing Fluffnest for $1.9 million in unpaid debts, while Kickstarter backers are actively requesting refunds.
Hades II set a new record on Steam for concurrent players, surpassing its early access numbers. According to SteamDB, on Sunday, September 28, 112,947 people were playing the game simultaneously on Steam. The previous record set in May 2024 was 103,567 people.