We just can't seem to keep PopCap out of the news feed today. First there was the heart-warming/wrenching story of the young Make-A-Wish boy who got to make a game with PopCap. Now, PopCap has announced that they have acquired a new game studio called ZipZapPlay that specializes in making social game experiences.
“Adding ZipZapPlay’s strong design and development team to our rapidly-growing social games group is a big move for us,” said Jason Kapalka, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at PopCap, offering a generic b-roll quotation for the press release. “ZipZapPlay is a great cultural fit: a truly creative company that lives and breathes in this space. And their next game is very innovative and exciting – we believe it has the potential to be a step forward in the evolution of social gaming.”
ZipZapPlay is a venture capital-backed studio from the San Francisco Bay Area, whose previous games include Baking Life (pictured above) and is working other social games. PopCap has declined to offer financial details of the acquisition, but has said that the founders of the studio will remain in place helming the studio's upcoming games.
PopCap has been doing some very rapid expansion in recent months. This expansion into social games comes just after the announcement of their new brand, 4th and Battery. PopCap is clearly looking to expand its role as one of the most important and influential casual game developers in the world. It will be interesting to watch how they develop over the next few years.
