It appears that PopCap (Bejeweled, Peggle, Plants vs. Zombies), which has been doing quite well for itself lately, might be bought by giant Electronic Arts in the foreseeable future. Rumor has it that $1 billion (USD) is the price to be paid for the casual games developer.

With a purchase like this, which reaches 13% of the company’s market cap, EA is making it very clear that it will not only invest on casual games as a whole, but own the market regardless of platform. Although, it would be fair to assume the publisher would want a bigger piece of the mobile/tablet market cake first, a department PopCap is clearly able to help with and try to fight off gargantuan hits in the likes of Angry Birds.

A question still to be answered is whether or not ZipZapPlay and 4th & Battery will be included in the deal; quite frankly, for a $1 billion, they better be.

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2011/06/23/rumor-ea-to-buy-popcap-games/

Posted: Jun 23, 2011 6:48 pm