EA buys PopCap Games for $750 million

Gaming giant Electronic Arts has purchased PopCap Games for $750 million dollars — $100 million in EA stock, the rest in cash.

PopCap is best known for casual games like Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies and Zuma. EA’s titles tend to be more gamer-centric.

“EA and PopCap are a compelling combination,” said EA CEO John Riccitiello in a statement. “PopCap’s great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA’s momentum.” This merger is designed to push EA closer to their goal of being a $1 billion company.

“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 deal is expected to go through in 2012.

Via: GigaOM
Source: BusinessWire

Stephen Hackett, formerly a Lead Mac Genius at Apple, now spends his days running the IT department of a large non-profit in Memphis, TN. He writes about Apple, design and journalism at forkbombr.net. Like all twenty-somethings, you can find him on Twitter. Oh, and he has a dogcow tattoo.