EA to buy PopCap Games for $1.3B

By Molly McHugh July 12, 2011

Electronic Arts (EA) announced today that it will acquire PopCap Games in a deal that may reach as much as a total of $1.3 billion . Last month, PopCap was rumored to have a mystery buyer that was offering somewhere around $1 billion. Given EA’s recent forays into social gaming, the deal doesn’t come as a huge surprise.

PopCap is behind popular games Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle, Zuma, and Bejeweled. ‘We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games,” CEO David Roberts said in a statement today. “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 rise of social gaming has been good to PopCap, which integrates with Facebook, RenRen, Google, as well as Android and iOS devices. And EA has been keeping tabs on the industry: The developer has been traditionally affiliated with console and PC gaming up until recently, when it’s made several acquisitions to establish itself in the social gaming market. EA acquired both Playfish and Angry Birds publisher Chillingo recently, as well as signed a five year deal with Facebook in late 2010.

Adding PopCap Games to this list is another big step for EA’s social gaming division. It’s becoming more and more of a serious competitor in the social and casual gaming market, likely with intentions of challenging Zynga, which continues to dominate. According to EA’s investor statements, PopCap will also help its presence with gamers in Asia, as well as via mobile platforms.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…

Gaming

The Nintendo Switch just got 2 surprise games — and they’re both worth grabbing

A teddy beat sits on an embroidery hoop in Stitch.

If you were unable to catch this week's Nintendo IndieWorld showcase, then you missed a surprisingly loaded show. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes got a May release date, WayForward showed off its Yars' Revenge revival, and Steamworld Heist 2 got an exciting reveal. In the midst of all those headlines, two smaller games were surprise released on the platform: Stitch and Sticky Business. Don't sleep on either of them, as they're both worth a purchase.

Both games are ports of previously released games, but both went a bit under the radar upon their original launch. Sticky Business modestly launched last summer on PC, whereas Stitch has actually been around since 2022 as an Apple Arcade exclusive. The latter even has an Apple Vision Pro version now that can be played in mixed reality. I can't blame anyone for missing either, but their Switch releases offer a good opportunity to catch up with some quiet hidden gems.

Computing

Is this Razer’s Steam Deck killer?

The Razer Kishi Ultra sitting on a table.

Razer has been oddly quiet in the burgeoning world of handheld gaming PCs. When I met up with the company at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) to learn about its new products, I was happy to hear it had an answer to the success of the Steam Deck.

But it was not the type of answer I was expecting.

Gaming

The best iPhone emulators

A collage of the delta emulator.

The market for iPhone games has become so wide and diverse that it can realistically compete with most console and PC offerings. Where we once only got cheap time-wasters, we now have complete experiences that don't feel any less impressive than what the competition offers. In fact, a lot of games made for consoles are appearing on the iPhone now that it is becoming so powerful. However, older games have paradoxically been mostly absent from the app store. That all could be about to change as emulation is now allowed on iPhone, though with some caveats that any retro fan should know about before getting too excited to play all your favorite NES games on your phone. Here's what's up with iPhone emulators, as well as our picks for a few of the best ones you can get right now.
What you need to know about emulation on iPhone
Emulators on iPhone, as well as emulation in general, are in a strange legal gray zone. Previously, the only way to get an emulator on your iPhone was through some workarounds that generally involved jailbreaking your phone, That differs from Android, which has enjoyed native emulators for years. In 2024, Apple updated its App Store guidelines to allow for emulators on its store, but with some important restrictions.

Here's the exact wording: "Apps may offer certain software that is not embedded in the binary, specifically HTML5 mini apps and mini games, streaming games, chatbots, and plug-ins. Additionally, retro game console emulator apps can offer to download games. You are responsible for all such software offered in your app, including ensuring that such software complies with these guidelines and all applicable laws. Software that does not comply with one or more guidelines will lead to the rejection of your app. You must also ensure that the software adheres to the additional rules that follow in 4.7.1 and 4.7.5. These additional rules are important to preserve the experience that App Store customers expect, and to help ensure user safety."