EA Reportedly in Talks to Purchase PopCap for... One BILLION Dollars!
EA Reportedly in Talks to Purchase PopCap for... One BILLION Dollars!
Posted 06/23/2011 at 7:59am
| by Paul Lilly
8
Comments
Print
Some people view Electronic Arts as a place where promising development studios and game franchises go to wither and die. While that has certainly been the case a time or two, don't expect that to happen to PopGames if EA takes control. According to TechCrunch, EA is in "late stage acquisition discussions" with PopCap to acquire the casual game maker for a cool $1 billion, a hefty investment that points to a much bigger purpose than wanting to remove the competition.
In all reality, EA doesn't present much competition for any company entrenched in the mobile and/or casual games market. That isn't to say EA doesn't have a mobile gaming presence, but it's a comparatively weak one at best. PopCap, on the other hand, is rolling in the dough with games like Bejeweled, Bookworm, Peggle, and Plants vs Zombies.
Keeping in mind that this is all speculation at this point, the question here is whether EA is off its rocker to consider forking over $1 billion for PopCap, or if the price is exactly right to fast-track the company into mobile and casual games. At the rumored price, EA would be paying what amounts to more than 13 percent of its market cap, which currently sits at $7.49 billion.
Regardless of whether it's a wise move or not, one thing we know for sure is that EA isn't afraid to pull the trigger on big dollar deals. As ZDNet points out, EA spent $680 million acquiring JAMDAT Mobile in 2006, and another $400 million scooping up PopCap rival Playfish back in 2009.
More like this
8
Comments
Comments are closed on this article
Ghok
June 23, 2011 at 7:32pm
When is Plants vs. Zombies 2 coming out? The first one is practically a religion in my house. :)
AndrewEgel
June 23, 2011 at 10:37am
When is the Trade Commission and the European Union going to step in and prevent EA from aquiring.... I don't know... Everyone?
Marthian
June 23, 2011 at 11:32am
like that's ever going to happen.
small companies I can see that, but other huge ones like Valve, Bethesda, Sony, Microsoft, etc. yeah those aren't going to be bought out easily.
By the way, what about Activision, I think they'd have an easier job buying I don't know everyone?
Baer
June 23, 2011 at 9:49am
EA will take Pop Cap down the same road they took a number of honored companies down starting with Origin Systems and the fabled Ultima series. This sounds like a great deal for....Pop Cap but not so great for the EA stockholders or for gamers.
tomcat68
June 23, 2011 at 9:38am
Honestly, I see this as nothing more then them buying their way into the Steam market right now. Steam dropped Crysis 2 the other day because of something in their contract. There may be something similar in PopCaps Steam contract. Imagine if all of the Pop Cap games left Steam because of this.
If you can't join'em, buy'em I guess.
AETAaAS
June 23, 2011 at 8:45am
I'm pretty sure with a one billion dollar budget, EA could easily set up a department solely for the purpose of churning out casual games. But no, they'd rather have their talent working on another furniture pack for the Sims... :p
DDRDiesel
June 23, 2011 at 10:43am
I'd rather the furniture pack. My makeshift Draco Malfoy may have a green couch with a black carpet, but I'll be damned if he doesn't get his snakeskin couch covering next update!
DDRDiesel
June 23, 2011 at 8:14am
"EA spent $680 acquiring JAMDAT Mobile in 2006"
Damnit, why didn't I have that foresight?! I could have easily out-bid them!
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
The gang discusses the GTX 690, Trinity, Ivy Bridge, Amazon, big-box stores, MMOs,...
This month's issue
Feature
Build a PC On Any Budget
Feature
Cloud Services Showdown
How-To
Encrypt Your External Drive
Build It
Upgrade an X58 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Original RickRoll Video Returns to YouTube After 24-Hour Copyright Hiatus http://t.co/MaH9Sxyy1 day 4 hours ago
- maximumpc: Corsair has decided not to go forward with its $78 million IPO, citing weak equity market conditions http://t.co/A5a4DAzj1 day 4 hours ago
- maximumpc: Want to work at Maximum PC? Our Online Managing Editor, Alex, is moving away, so we need a new one. http://t.co/9Z7JCh0E3 days 2 hours ago
