The Mac Observer

EA to Buy PopCap Games for $1B

TMO Talk (14)

Electronic Arts is apparently in the final negotiation states to buy PopCap games. The deal will end up costing EA some US$1 billion, according to anonymous sources, but could help the company finally make a big move into the social gaming market.

EA wants some PopCap actionEA is ready to level up with PopCap

TechCrunch reports that the deal would also help EA gain marketshare with casual mobile gamers that tend to stay away from the company’s more involved titles.

PopCap is known for popular iPhone and iPad games such as Plants vs. Zombies, Bejeweled, and Peggle. EA offers titles for the iPad and iPhone such as Madden NFL 11, Dead Space, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and SimCity Deluxe.

Neither company is publicly talking about the possible acquisition, so there isn’t any word yet on when a deal might be announced.

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3 Observer Comments

Ugh.. No.. EA leave PopCap alone…

   Actions archimedes said on June 24th, 2011 at 1:07 PM (Edited: 06/24/2011 1:10 PM):

At first blush I see little good coming from this besides PopCap’s games being included in EA’s frequent iOS sales.

On the other hand, EA is not alone in trying to woo “casual” gamers. Nintendo is trying to figure out how to get casual gamers who only play Wii Sports or Wii Fit to try out their great “hard core” Mario and Zelda games. I am not sure that people who like Bejeweled will be playing Dead Space any time soon, but Puzzle Quest and Clash of Heroes are an interesting step between Bejeweled and handheld RPGs like Dragon Quest IX.

For me it’s the opposite - I thought Bejeweled was OK but never really got into it until I played Puzzle Quest!

For me it’s the opposite - I thought Bejeweled was OK but never really got into it until I played Puzzle Quest!

Bejeweled was amusing for a while.  Even Puzzle Quest was fine until it pretty much became repetitive.  If Puzzle Quest would have implemented different puzzles for different mobs it would be more interesting than the same bejeweled hack over and over.

The only game from PopCap that I love is Plants vs Zombies.  Would love to see an extended version with some side quests/puzzles to get the new plants to break up the constant attack.

So.. I reverse my statement.. EA can have everything but Plants vs Zombies.  Which should go to Blizzard so they can make a PvZ RTS MMO. =)

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