Report: EA buying PopCap for $1 billion

By Tom Bramwell Published 23 June, 2011

Prominent US tech site makes claim.

Electronic Arts is rummaging around down the back of the couch in search of a spare $1 billion to purchase PopCap, according to a report on a US tech news site.

Palo Alto worshippers TechCrunch report that "multiple sources" are pointing to an acquisition and that the wheels are in motion already.

PopCap is a private company and doesn't release sales figures, but Forbes reported recently that it generated $100m in revenue in 2010.

The company's big hits are mostly casual titles with crossover appeal, most notably Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies. The Seattle-based studio is also responsible for Bookworm Adventures, Peggle, Zuma and many others.

We've reached out to both EA and PopCap for comment but neither has provided anything just yet. We'll update this story when we hear back.

Update: EA has declined to comment, and PopCap has also said that it "does not comment on rumours or speculation".

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • carlitoswagon #1 11 months ago

    Seems a bit much.

  • Skooch #2 11 months ago

    Wow, I didn't realise PopCap were worth so much. Someone's pay day is coming!

  • evild_edd #3 11 months ago

    Only time will tell whether this is a good buy or not: it all depends on whether Popcap can continue to produce the quality, addictive, simple titles that have had mass appeal. Can they keep up the quality and quirkyness of Peggle and PvZ, I wonder?

    Popcap seem a little the gaming equivalent Pixar in a lot of ways. Let's hope that this takeover (Popcap) is as seamless as the Disney one of Pixar a few years back....

  • Ranger101 #4 11 months ago

    That's just an overstated venture sales figured, probably 'leaked' by Popcap themselves in order to increase offer prices and garner interest from other potential purchasers. Pay no heed to the figure, but do take note that Popcap is up for sale.

  • harzo #5 11 months ago

    There's a zombie on your lawn...

  • infernox1 #6 11 months ago

    Oh god. popcap regularly gives some of their games for free if you sign up to their newsletter. that will all probably stop if EA gets a hold of them. general_ironfist knows nothing about investment.

  • Gastrian #7 11 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • Ginola14 #8 11 months ago

    General ironfist:
    They are worth more than $100 million if they make $100 million a year.
    EA are not going to liquidate them after 1 year are they?
    So after 2 years ownership EA will net $200 million (in theory) and so on.
    It's a long term investment, although a billion $ is probably way off the mark.

  • Subdominator #9 11 months ago

    Yearly Peggle then, good for me. ;) I never understood why they settled for Peggle versions on every platform instead of developing a true sequel. Peggle/Peggle Nights is how old, three years? I really don't get why developers opt to not create a sequel to their successful IPs and instead try to create new ones. Like why was there never a Marble Blast Ultra 2?

    1 billion for a company that has a revenue of one tenth of that and earnings of about 1/40 of that is pretty steep. However it's not incredibly overpriced, at the stock exchange they would be worth at least 500 million based on their current earnings. And they already have established IPs, they have a huge share of the casual gaming market that is only going to grow, they are on all platforms, future is looking very bright for PopCap. So 1 billion overall is fair for a company with a good forecast.

  • Liquidoodle #10 11 months ago

    I hope this doesn't happen! That is all.

  • BloodSaint #11 11 months ago

    I think that is way overpriced... They only offered to buy Take Two for 2 Billion (which got rejected) , and their offering to buy a casual games company for 1 billion?!? If EA really has 1 billion to spare EA should look at buying companies that produces quality core games, like Take Two, Bethesda, Ubisoft (merge seems certainely quite likely if they chose to pursue Ubi), THQ or maybe Epic and Crytek...
    Edited by BloodSaint at 23/06/11 @ 10:53

  • metalangel #12 11 months ago

    Having ruined Criterion, Bioware and DICE, EA needs a new dev that makes games that people like, so they can ruin them too.

  • Wizard83 #13 11 months ago

    We don't want EA on the lawn...

  • Amazing_Scenes #14 11 months ago

    So Jeff Green may end up back at EA huh?

  • romelpotter #15 11 months ago

    E.A. move into mobile gaming in a big way. My question is that are E.A. putting increased efforts into this market, with a view that it will become THE gaming industry, and therefor are getting in on the action, and driving the market? Or Are they simply looking for a slice of that pie? At a 1 bil investment, its more I think than simply looking for a slice of that pie. To get a return on that investment, you can be sure that there will (at least) be an attempt at shifting trends.

    For me, this could be good news. I think that if the trend moves to mobile gaming, then there is the possibility that the console market (and PC to an extent) could move back towards how the industry was in 1996 (I am talking business model, not PS1 quality games!) because the drive to increase year on year profitability has shifted to the mobile markets and left consoles to those that are not suits, but gamers!

    So minimal or no DLC (no chaffing horse armor!!), less generic yearly updates that add no real value to the gaming experience, more unique and individual games where devs are willing to take a risk, increased creativity and resourcefulness from devs (MGS1 for example, battle with Mantis, it made me grin once I realised what was going on!)!!!

    However, I could be talking from my arse, and wake up and eat my cornflakes!

  • SAMagic #16 11 months ago

    "I know almost nothing of EA and PopCap's financials but I'm going to comment anyway and say it's way too much."

  • el_pollo_diablo #17 11 months ago

    Jeff Green must be pissed.

    @Amazing_Scenes
    Hahaha! Didn't spot your post until I'd hit submit, great minds... :)
    Edited by el_pollo_diablo at 23/06/11 @ 12:20

  • Feanor #18 11 months ago

    And poor Jeff Green only just escaped from the EA collective.

  • Lord_BeeJee #19 11 months ago

    Damn EA should keep their hands off other studios :/

  • MrVengeance #20 11 months ago

    PopCap makes some great little games, but €1 billion is too much for any developer!