EA Buys Peggle Creator PopCap Games

[draythefingerless]

You know the only thing that could possibly make this any better is all the crying that is going to go on in this thread. I absolutely love it.

props to you good sir. i am loving it as well.

 

[Weaver]

Remember when Activision bought Harmonix then dissolved the team? Remember when Microsoft bought Ensemble Studios then dissolved the team? Well hopefully, that doesn't happen.

Remember when EA bought Bioware and now all their games are loaded with DRM, 50 different pre-order bonuses and DLC that waves it's ass in your face to buy it while you play? I pray to god that doesn't happen either.

 

[intheweeds]

Generally bad news imo, but then I thought about what the EA Marketing department are gonna do to Popcap's games.

There aren't enough colon's in the world to express exactly how sadface this makes me

to piggyback on your joke... there aren't enough colon's in the world to represent the amount of shit this is going to be either.

The good news? i finally found a piece of gaming news my Peggle loving girlfriend actually cared to hear about. So i mean that's something right?

 

[Cenequus]

DustArma[]Saaay, can we wait until EA actually kills the studio before we start saying they are dead? Who knows, maybe nothing bad will happen to PopCap.

Also, I'm looking to buy some bridges.

More specifically, Riccitello also cited the ongoing "explosion in microtransaction revenue" as a motivating factor.

Microtransactions are "clearly the dominant form of payment across Facebook and other social networks," Riccitello said, as well as "the underpinning of growth in digital business."

"It would not surprise me to see microtransactions as our largest revenue stream" in the near future, he added.

That's not enough?

Don't really see te problem in this case since we're talking about a company that sort off invented the casual games.

What does that have to do with anything?

As for microtransactions it's the same thing it all comes down to casual games/players. You pay for whatever part of content you want to play. I really think it's nothing that PopCap wouldn't have done by themselves eventually,with EA they just got the resources to do it now.

And I'd have been equally upset if they'd done it of they're own accord. EA almost doesn't factor into it.

Why? It's casual games. That's what they are and that's what they are for,a casual public. Don't get me wrong casual doesn't mean dumb or easy game it means games you can play anytime anywhere for 5 minutes just like for 10 hours. And microtransaction and casual games go hand in hand,oe brings the other. You have no dea how important is for a casual player the factthat he pays or a game exactly for how long he plays it. He's prefers buying stuff when he plays rather than a subscription for a month knowing he'll only play 1 day a week. That's why games like those on platforms like facebook have hundreds of milions of players.

 

[znix]

Not only did they rape Bioware and make DA2 suck in just about every conceivable way. Now casual crap games will be even crappier, tainted by the slimy entity that is EA.

But EA only partly bears the blame. A huge screw-you to all the publishers and game studios who sell out and offer their souls on the EA Alter of Ultimate Evil for mere cash. So much for artistic integrity.

Autonomy? LOL. Delusional blindness more like it.

 

[Pedro Negrin]

I don't think this is a really smart move, EA should be buying game developers that are suitable for their games or at least their game types not casual games completely. Especially how EA has been doing these days with their games like Medal of Honor, Dante's Inferno and Dead Space 2, I really hope they develope good games with this new developer.

 

[Pedro Negrin]

I don't think this is a really smart move, EA should be buying game developers that are suitable for their games; this feels like their purchase of Pandemic Studios (which closed down and their games really did not feel in place with EA and their games weren't very good) or Playfish (currently open it's the studio that has made free-to-play social network games like Pet Society). I do hope they make this work.

 

[Tea_bird]

EA, just because they're successful doesn't mean they have to be yours. Why can't you and Activision just let game developers be?

 

[Stryc9]

But seriously, let's just wait and see what happens. As an aside, is there any chance we could have the "Thriller" zombie back now please? Disco zombie is lame, and makes no sense.

No, we can't. The whole reason we lost Thriller Zombie is because the Jackson estate(his parents), decided that since they weren't getting money out of it it was degrading...and they weren't getting money out of it so they threatened to sue to have it removed and now it's gone forever. Sorry.

 

[NinjaTigerXIII]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! This is some of the worst news I've heard in a while. EA, if you in any way mess with Plants v Zombies 2 you'll have a rebellion on your hands.

 

[Nurb]

Welp, piracy of their games no longer bothers me.

Oh who am I kidding, if piracy actually had an effect on massive publishers they wouldn't have the money to keep buying and killing developers.

Looks like PopCap's owner gets to retire early at least. Honestly, if I had the choice of making games for the next 30 years or get a big chunk of $1.3 bllion, it'd be no contest.

"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
-George Washington

 

[HydraMoon]

We call it "The Jeff"

That was hilarious and well worth the build-up.


*****
On topic- can't say that I blame EA for buying PopCap, nor PopCap for sealing the deal. Money is a big motivator. I do wish our financial view of the future didn't revolve around microtransactions, but it's working for now so more power to them.

I hope they don't leech the talent and they truly do mean it when they say they are going with a hands off approach. I'm not holding my breath, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It took them a few years but EA has finally started ruining Bioware.
They will fuck Popcap over too; just as they have fucked everyone else they bought out over the years. The only silver lining here is that Zynga didn't buy them out first.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

EA really are going after Steam. In a few months they will pull popcap games from steam and make them only available on EA's version.

I will reference this post when it happens. Goddammit EA... >.<

 

[tombman888]

So does this mean that there will be no more popcap on Steam??

 

[Frotality]

good. maybe EA will stop trying to turn all its games into peggle-esque simplistic crack now that it actually owns peggle.

 

[Nenad]

"EA Buys Peggle Creator PopCap Games"
No. No,no,no,no. "Plants and Zombies Creator", much better.

On topic: I'm staying positive as always, hope they'll be making (even) better games from now on.
EDIT: The open letter is awesome, Popcap rocks!

 

[Chibz]

Hey look. A large and evil corporation bought a more different poison in gaming.

And not a fuck was given that day.

 

[Delock]

Better than Activision, Ubisoft, or Capcom picking it up. As long as we're not talking about the EA that was going through restructuring after the change of leadership where the new boss had to pull all those merging developers in order to keep the company alive then I'm completely fine with this. Sure EA still has a bit of a DLC problem and EA Sports is still alive, but they seem to at least treat their dev teams right and there's no better publisher when it comes to advertising (if EA wants you to know of a game, you WILL hear about it).

Also, I'm surprised with how many people are "mourning" PopCap. Didn't people hate them not too long ago for making only casual games?

 

[Chappy]

Is it unrealistic of me to hope this means EA can release great games more frequently now that they have PopCap because of the extra money coming in and more recruitment avenues for people new to developing.

You know hire new people into Popcap, then form them into teams and make new or update current studios when they have some more experience working for EA?

Or is this just anouther cash cow for them?