• Tweet
• Share
• Email

• Tweet
• Share
• Email

Bejeweled 3: $20, Plants Vs. Zombies: $10, Peggle iPhone: $3, PopCap Games: Priceless…actually $1 Billion. TechCrunch is reporting, that PopCap games has been sold for just over $1 Billion, and yes that’s with a B. The casual game maker of such hits as Bejeweled, Peggle, Plants vs Zombies, Zuma, Chuzzle, Bookwork, Mystery P.I., and more are in the process of being acquired by a third party.

The only question is who actually acquired PopCap. The source is still unknown, but whoever it is, paid a pretty penny for the gaming company. Popcap’s current revenues are about $100-150 million, and $1 Billion is up to 10 times as much. There are a umber of potential suitors like Electronic Arts or Zynga who have both been snatching up smaller gaming companies lately. $1 Billion seems to be too much for Zynga, and EA’s market cap is 7.5 billion, so it would be a substantial investment in mobile and casual games for them.

It could be an Asian company trying to gain a foothold stateside, and there are quite a few potential suitors. For instance DeNA acquired Ngmoco seemingly out of nowhere, and it may be the same case here. A chinese company like Shanda, who has made money on selling virtual goods, could try to get their model into the US. Still, you have to think of a company like Disney to be interested, and you can never count out Apple with their huge cash reserves.

We will keep you updated as we learn more, but in the mean time raise a glass to PopCap. They’re the definitive casual gaming company, and this acquisition shows how far casual games have come. Popcap games are played by everyone of all ages, the mass appeal is astonishing. No matter who bought PopCap, that’s a whole lot of Bejewels.

Also check out PopCap games pages in the App Store and Mac App Store.

Update:
It turns out that EA is in fact the company in position to acquire PopCap. No deal is final, but it’s in the late stages and looks to be going through. Neither company has commented on any aspect of the deal. A $1 billion acquisition does represent over 13 percent of EA’s market cap of $7.5 billion. EA is definitely trying to position itself better in the mobile category, as it has already bought Chillingo and Firemint over the past year.

Only time will tell if PopCap will continue the great casual gaming work with the acquisition. We can only hope that this means more resources for PopCap so they can make games faster, and get more of them to iOS devices.