The rumour of EA wanting to buy PopCap has been going around for quite some time and now finally that can be put to rest and we can confirm that EA have in fact picked up the Plants and Zombies developers for a cool $750 million.
The deal is part cash and part stock but surprisingly the stock is a pretty small part of the deal with EA handing over $650 million in cash.
But what does PopCap get from teaming up with EA? Well according to EA they have an army of zombie developers who can do all the menial work while the geniuses at PopCap keep on creating. Okay that’s not how they officially put it but how else can I interpret this
Riccitiello said since PopCap currently has around 450 personnel, most of the firm’s designers are stuck working on individual format carriers such as Andorid, and doing unproductive work for designers. EA has personnel who can do all the localization work, so “creators can create,” instead of being stuck doing menial work.
It’s an interesting tie in really and I think PopCap are big enough to be able to ensure they keep the same culture and avoid falling into the EA trap of horrible yearly franchise refreshes.
But really don’t be surprised to see a flurry of themed Zombies vs Plants titles coming out because EA knows that there are a lot of people out there (like me) who would happily pay for a Liverpool themed Plants vs Zombies… where our little Liverpool plants can destroy Man Utd zombies.
To celebrate the merger PopCap sent that awesome card above over to the EA offices, you have to love their humour.
Source: http://www.lazygamer.net/pc-gaming/ea-buys-popcapplants-and-zombies-fifa-edition-rumoured
