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EA Paying Up To $1.3 Billion for PopCap Games


Electronic Arts is acquiring casual gaming giant PopCap, maker of Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled, among others. EA is paying out $650 million in cash, $100 million in stock and up to $550 million in earn-outs for hitting financial milestones in the next few years.

“EA and PopCap are a compelling combination,” said EA CEO John Riccitiello. “PopCap’s great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA’s momentum and accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business. EA’s global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries, and more channels.”

“We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games,” said David Roberts, CEO of PopCap. “By working with EA, we'll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience.”

The press release notes that PopCap games have been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times and Bejeweled, the flagship franchise, has sold more than 50 million units.

Hat tip to Business Insider.

Top Rated Comments

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Posted: 11 months ago
EA is evil..
Rating: 7 Positives / 1 Negatives
Posted: 11 months ago
So long and thanks for all the games, Popcap.
Rating: 4 Positives / 1 Negatives
Posted: 11 months ago
goodbye cool games...
Rating: 3 Positives / 0 Negatives
Posted: 11 months ago
Both EA and Microsoft games do not make art... They are just cheap lazy game factories. Valve is where its at, along with some others.
Rating: 2 Positives / 0 Negatives
Posted: 11 months ago
Say hello to PvZ 2. It will be 3 times as easy as number 1 and with only half as much effort from the development team. All but the first 5 plants will require in app purchase ( at a pound a plant ) and the app its self will set you back £10
Rating: 4 Positives / 2 Negatives
Posted: 11 months ago
Another studio consumed by EA and eventually ruined.
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
Posted: 11 months ago
:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(

no no no no no!
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
Posted: 11 months ago
Bad news for gamers.
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
Posted: 11 months ago

Actually the trendy thing to do now is hate on Activision. Hating on EA is very 2005/2006.

Did Activision kill Blizzard? No.
So I don't think EA will kill PopCap games. That is if PopCap make the games and EA just release them. But EA could riddle the games with the DRM BS. So yeah it could be good or bad depending on how much EA choose to ******* up everything.
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
Posted: 11 months ago
I refuse to buy EA games. I made mistake of buying a couple games on sale a year or so ago that were buggy and crashed to the point where it was unplayable and many people complained in reviews but i thought EA is a reputable company they will fix that soon but guess what... today over a year later still no update and the games are still in app store.
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives

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