Keep in mind when Battlefield 6 dropped in 2025 and it was a giant hit, promoting seven million copies in three days and changing into the primary Battlefield sport to outsell a competing Name of Responsibility? After which Digital Arts rewarded the individuals who made it by laying them off? And in addition laid off the whole group engaged on an all-new, extra story-focused sport within the sequence?
I remind you of all this—and, since we’re on the subject, of former Dragon Age boss Mark Darrah’s current characterization of the corporate as “a hedge fund with a videogame pastime”—as a result of EA launched its Kind 10-Ok/A SEC submitting yesterday, revealing amongst different issues that CEO Andrew Wilson’s “complete compensation” for the corporate’s 2026 fiscal yr was $38,649,984, an $8 million enhance over his 2025 pay pushed in no small half by the success of Battlefield 6.
There are quite a few elements concerned in EA’s determination to provide $39 million to Wilson for a single yr of doing no matter it’s he does, after all, however “enterprise efficiency” is unquestionably one of many large ones. And that class is led by Battlefield, which met “all milestones for a high-quality launch,” together with “optimistic vital opinions and steady providers and gameplay.”
Newest Movies FromPC Gamer
“The extremely profitable Battlefield launch” warrants a second point out, alongside the transfer to promote the corporate to Saudi Arabia, in a separate class concerning the corporate’s administration “in an unpredictable exterior surroundings.”
Huge ups to Battlefield 6, then, and in addition to Wilson’s pay bundle. His base wage, for the document, was ‘solely’ $1.3 million, the identical as 2025, however the bonuses and bonus modifiers add up proper fast.
You could like
Here is a breakdown of the pay construction for Wilson and the opposite large canine at EA, which additionally illustrates how his complete pay shot up by $13 million in two years, regardless that his base wage hasn’t budged.
There is a notable bump in Wilson’s “different compensation,” from $678,858 in 2025 to almost $2.4 million in 2026. This, the report explains, is due primarily to a rise in his “private safety advantages.” An evaluation performed in 2025 advisable that Wilson use non-public air journey for all private journey in addition to enterprise journey, and in consequence he “was permitted to make use of company plane for private journey topic to a 75-hour cap,” which ended up costing $1,245,946.
Maintain on, there’s extra. You could recall Joshua Wolens declaring in 2025 that Wilson’s complete compensation for that yr was 260 occasions higher than EA’s median worker wage—a giant enhance from the 170:1 ratio the earlier yr. Properly, it is up once more: The report says the ratio of Wilson’s compensation to the median EA worker was 305:1 in 2026. That hole widened regardless of the median wage at EA additionally growing, from $117,302 in 2025 to $126,612 in 2026, though EA famous that it had calculated a brand new median worker wage for the 2026 comparability.
It was a fairly nice yr for Digital Arts then—except you have been an worker at Criterion, Cube, Ripple Impact, Motive, Ridgeline, Full Circle (it wasn’t all Battlefield), or EA’s recruitment, buyer help, belief and security, and IT groups who discovered themselves and not using a job whereas 5 individuals within the C-suite collectively “earned” round $80 million. For one yr, keep in mind.
It is grotesque, however as Joshua mentioned in 2025, this is not an issue distinctive to Wilson or EA. Our system prioritizes shareholder worth above all else, and the relentless drive for maximal income and progress has fuelled an explosive enhance in govt compensation throughout the board. In 2019, as an example, Wilson simply barely squeaked into As You Sow’s rating of the 100 Most Overpaid CEOs, whereas former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick landed squarely in the midst of the record.
