PopCap Buys Xbox Live Arcade Developer Gastronaut

Casual game maker PopCap has bought Gastronaut Studios, best known for its popular Xbox 360 Live Arcade titles "Small Arms."

Casual game maker PopCap Games has announced it is acquiring game development firm Gastronaut Studios for an undisclosed sum. Gastronaut is perhaps best-known for its Xbox Live Arcade title Small Arms, although it has pumped out several other Xbox Live titles and worked with PopCap to bring Peggle and Feeding Frenzy 2 to XBLA.

"The Gastronaut Studios acquisition signals PopCap’s continued commitment to internal development of top quality games for a range of platforms," said PopCap CEO David Roberts, in a statement. "Given the success of Gastronaut’s top-selling Small Arms franchise in particular, there’s little doubt that PopCap has significantly increased its development capabilities and creative firepower."

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but PopCap gets the company’s assets and employees, including Gastronaut’s in-house tools and technologies. The Gastronaut team will get to work on several "undisclosed" projects for PopCap, although—in an interesting move—Gastronaut founders will keep full rights to Gastronaut’s original properties, including Small Arms and the upcoming action puzzle game Gel.