Report: PopCap being acquired for over $1 billion
TechCrunch reports, by way of "multiple sources," that casual gaming powerhouse PopCap – the group behind Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle, and every other game your mom loves and you won't admit to loving – is in the process of being acquired.
... for over $1 billion.
While you consider all the wrong decisions you've made with your life, we'll finish writing this post so we can join you. The buyer remains unknown and, while growth-happy dev Zynga seems like an obvious pick, TC is hearing that PopCap's asking price (over $1 billion, remember?) was too rich for its blood.
TC speculates that either EA, Japanese mobile group DeNA, or Chinese outfit Tencent might be behind the purchase. You may recognize DeNA following its acquisition of ngmoco last year, and Tencent following its majority buyout of free-to-play hit League of Legends. We've asked PopCap for comment which, if the report is true, we expect right after the PopCap team finishes screaming about how rich they are.
[Update 6:09pm ET – As is to be expected, PopCap issued us the following comment: "Per company policy, we do not comment on rumors and speculation of this nature." 6:45pm ET – PopCap's soon-to-be "Customer Engagement Lead" Jennifer Kye took to Twitter to say, "Not true. Rumor debunked." She later clarified that she would be "working there next week" and that her soon-to-be "boss confirmed it" for her. We've again reached out to PopCap for another statement. 7:02pm ET – And PopCap got back to us again – they're really good about that – with the same no comment: "we do not comment on rumors and speculation of this nature."]
