EA to Buy PopCap for £750 Million

So, last month it was rumoured that EA was to buy Plants vs Zombies maker PopCap for one BILLION dollars. This week, the official word is: EA to Acquire PopCap Games for a total price of $750million.

Yes, the actual facts are:

- "Acquisition Price of $650 Million Plus $100 Million Stock & Multi-year Earn-Out."

- "Plants vs. Zombies, Bejeweled and Zuma Headed to New Platforms and Markets."

For its part, PopCap has an interesting take on the whole thing. It tells its customers:

"As some of you may have heard, we recently announced that PopCap Games is being acquired by Electronic Arts, a small mom-and-pop boutique software publisher. What does this mean for the future? It’s simple:
"1. EA is being rebranded to Poptronic Arts
"2. Sim Zuma: The SwampLife Edition
"3. Peggle: Dead Space – Bjorn’s Breakfast
"4. Bejeweled Battlefield Blitz
"5. Plants vs. ZombEAz: NFL Lockout Edition
"Wow!"

"Wow!" indeed. Of course, it then states: "Ok, not really."

So, EA's purchase dwarfs its previous mobile gaming buy of Chillingo, which set it back a meagre $17million. Both acquisitions, however, signal a very serious intent from the company, and an admission that things have changed.

Full EA release here.