The acquisition of Electronic Arts required taking on a lot of debt, and some bondholders are reportedly demanding more cash.

Electronic Arts, which recently transitioned from a public shareholder business to one owned by multiple private equity entities, still has creditors to answer to regarding previously-issued bonds, and a showdown with bondholders may be brewing for the publisher.

In August, Electronic Arts finalized a (much-criticized) acquisition by collaborating partners from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, which is led by U.S. president Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. To finance the buyout, the consortium borrowed $20 billion from JPMorgan, using that money as leveraged debt on the company.

The expectation then is that Electronic Arts would pay back that debt in the course of regular operations over the years. This is called a leveraged buyout and Electronic Arts holds the distinction of being the largest one of all time.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, however, this has its own complications. In taking on that level of debt from JPMorgan, the leverage increase potentially weakens EA's credit profile, leading to a loss in its investment grade rating. In such a scenario, legacy creditors now in the role of bondholders facing potential declines in bond value can demand that simply paying them back is not good enough and ask for a 101 percent repayment.

One group of bondholders is doing so for two $750 million tranches, totaling $1.5 billion.

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