Popcap Games the creators of games such as Bejeweled, Plants vs Zombies, and Zuma! Was acquired by Electronic Arts yesterday. EA announced the news after the stock market was closed for the day. The price which was agreed upon was $650,000,000 USD in cold hard cash and another $100,000,000 in stock. Now in most circumstances once a company is bought they lose the opportunity to make any money off of past products. However part of the agreement between Popcap Games and EA allows the company to continue making money over the next couple years, up to another $550,000,000.
In 2002 Microsoft tried to negotiate the purchase of Popcap Games for $5,000,000. In an interview Jason Kapalka said that the company had received offers on a monthly basis, offering to purchase the up and coming game company.
This purchase on EA’s part just goes to show the truth behind CEO John Riccitiello’s statement back in May to transform the game publisher “from a packaged goods company to a fully integrated digital entertainment company.”
In June of this year EA successfully launched Origin, which is a game delivery service platform that is a “direct to consumer” service. The company then proceeded to make 150 games available during the launch period. These games could be purchased and downloaded by consumers directly to there personal computers. It is expected that the second part of Origin, to bring more mobile games to consumers is why Popcap games has been purchased.
-TwisTtheTwiTcH
