Quote of the Moment: End of the Golden Era

"There's going to be a lot of [game cloning]. The truth is that there's that in every industry. I mean, MMOs, there's no shortage of terrible World of WarCraft clones that didn't really work out, and you'll see the same thing I think here. A handful will survive, a bunch will fail. You're definitely in the stage right now in social games where there's a lot of bandwagon jumping, where everyone sees moneymoneymoney and suddenly all these new companies appear... It happened before in mobile, it happened before in casual – in the past it's tended to signal the beginning of the end.

"Not necessarily of the genre, but of the sort of golden era, where everything was a fresh blue ocean and all that stuff. It's getting into the era where it'll be a lot more hard-fought. It'll be tough. People will make money there, but there'll be a lot of competition and then margins will shrink and all that sort of stuff. That's my thought on where we're heading with social stuff. Facebook can't go that much faster, they're only going to tighten up their restrictions. Sooner or later they will raise their rates, do other things like that, margins will just get increasingly tough.

"You're already sort of seeing that, a lot of the viral growth of Facebook games is now shut down, they have to do it the old fashioned way, which is by buying ads or by having something that people are actually interested in playing and actually want to want to tell their friends about. From our point of view, we can live with that. That's an okay solution for us. So I'm fairly optimistic about the future – there's enough crazy stuff going on that you never know what's going to happen. I know Google are doing some sort of social network..."

-Popcap Chief Creative Officer Jason Kapalka talks to GamesIndustry.biz about what he sees as a fundamental shift in the social gaming market of late.

Rumors: First PopCap, now Ohai--EA looks for leg up in social games

Remember that mystery buyer that was rumored to pick up PopCap for an insane $1 billion? How about the scuttlebutt that a mystery shopper was eying up Ohai? As it turns out, they're both EA, the veteran games publisher that has tailed Zynga on Facebook with games like Madden NFL Superstars and Pet Society for some time. According to VentureBeat, unnamed sources have revealed that the company has purchased Ohai for an undisclosed amount, though the website guesses that it wasn't much.

While an opt to buy a company like PopCap with hit properties like Bejeweled and Plants vs Zombies (even if for $1 billion) is fairly obvious, a move to purchase a company like Ohai is a bit more ... puzzling. (Though, the company did just release a new game, Unicorn Parade.) Especially considering the fact that EA owns companies in the social games industry like Playfish and Chillingo, publisher of Angry Birds in the U.S.

However, some considerable talent has passed through Ohai, like former CEO Susan Wu, a professional gamer turned former venture capitalist. But with most of that talent long gone after a few lukewarm releases, why else would EA want Ohai? Our best guess is for good talent at a cheap price, but we know just about as much as you do.

Regardless of whether either rumor turns out to be true, know this: EA is on the hunt, and if it isn't PopCap or Ohai it'll be someone else. With lots of cash and lots of reason to close that gap between its now third-place 31 million players, EA looks like it's ready for another shopping spree.

Yup, it's true - Electronic Arts lassos Bejeweled maker PopCap for $650 million

Turns out (one of) the rumors from the past few weeks are true -- Bejeweled-creator PopCap has been purchased by Electronic Arts for upwards of a billion dollars, an unnamed source confirms for Games.com this afternoon. The official news should be breaking shortly... stay tuned...

And the news is out. Electronic Arts has purchased PopCap for $650 million, adding its slate of critically acclaimed, best-selling games like Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, Zuma, Bookworm (and other) to EA's already vast library of games.

"We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games," said PopCap CEO David Roberts says in a statement. "By working with EA, we'll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience."

"EA and PopCap are a compelling combination," EA CEO John Riccitiello says. "PopCap's great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA's momentum and accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business. EA's global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries, and more channels."

EA will pay $650 million in cash and $100 million in shares of EA common stock will be issued to select PopCap stockholders. PopCap sellers will also be eligible for additional cash, based on PopCap's performance through December 2013.

This is an unexpected development, especially after PopCap had been very forthcoming about its plans to go public earlier this year. It will also be interesting to see how EA will help PopCap reach a new audience and how PopCap, in turn, will enhance EA's casual games business.

PopCap feels the power of 'free,' more freemium games incoming

Perhaps "PopCap feels the power of Facebook" is more like it. During an interview with PocketGamer.biz, PopCap senior director of mobile product and business strategy Giordano Contestabile revealed that the Bejeweled Blitz creator has plenty more plans for freemium mobile games. That's especially since its recent Plants vs Zombies freemium-inspired update.

"While we typically don't disclose much about our future plans, I can say that you're in for a lot of surprises for us in the coming months, and that in-app transactions and the freemium model are going to feature prominently," Contestabile told PocketGamer.biz. The PopCap exec believes that the play first, (maybe) pay later model of mobile games will likely take over.

"I think that, one year from now, 95 percent or more of iOS game downloads might come from freemium games, and 80 percent or more of the revenue could be associated with them," Contestabile told the website. "The freemium model is extremely powerful because it allows developers to reach the biggest possible audience, and it allows players to choose if and how to pay for content, after having tried it out."

While Contestabile did say that there's still a place for premium game experiences, or pay-to-play games, that approach is losing its luster for most games. It wouldn't be terribly inaccurate to call this "The Facebook Effect." The fact that companies like Zynga and EA (which now owns PopCap) have made serious dough with free-to-play Facebook games has certainly had a visible impact on mobile gaming, which has a distribution model fairly similar to social networks. Almost Free is here to stay, and it looks like PopCap wants to lead the charge.

Are you excited to hear that more free-to-play games are coming from PopCap? Which property do you hope gets the free treatment next, or are you hoping for more original games?

Plants vs Zombies for iPhone update unearths nine new mini games

Look, Plants vs Zombies might be PopCap's most entertaining game to date (next to Peggle), but even flinging seeds at ravenous zombies gets stale after awhile. Luckily, PopCap thinks so too, and has updated PvZ for iPhone, bringing with it a whopping nine new mini games that players can buy using coins in Crazy Dave's Shop. Well, at least these mini games are new to the iPhone--they're all from the PC and Mac version of PvZ.

Each of the nine new games comes in a pack of three for 50,000 coins, which players can collect through just playing the Adventure Mode or tending to their Zen Gardens (released in the previous update). Of course, you can expedite the process by purchasing bundles of 100,000 coins for $.99 apiece. Here's a sneak peek at all nine mini games, courtesy of PopCap:

Game Pack #3

    * Walnut Bowling 2: Knock 'em dead in this killer twist to an old favorite sport.
    * Seeing Stars: Unravel the mystery of the star-shaped pattern.
    * Bobsled Bonanza: Melt the ice and defeat bobsledders and Zombonis in this frosty battle.


Game Pack #4

    * Invisi-Ghoul: Test your prowess to take on invisible zombies.
    * Last Stand: Not your average day at the pool!
    * ZomBotany 2: Hybrid zombies sport plant heads and abilities to up the challenge ante.


Game Pack #5

    * Beghouled Twist: An homage to Bejeweled Twist, this mash-up requires match-3 skill.
    * Pogo Party: Crash the pogo party of your roof!
    * Zombie Nimble Zombie Quick: Get ready to move faster than ever!

PvZ mini games
All nine mini games sound like fun, but we're most interested in this homage to Bejeweled Twist, and Walnut Bowling has always been a blast when it comes up in Adventure Mode. This update also introduces more Achievements to brag about share on Apple Game Center, most notable of which is Peking Express.

This is a micro game of sorts in which you're timed on how quickly you scroll all the way down the Achievements page to visit China and its zombies. I made it in just over 10 seconds--can you beat my time? If you're game, then click on the link below and get to diggin'. If anything, this should hold you over until Peggle and PvZ hit Facebook ... maybe.

Click here to download the new Plants vs Zombies update for iPhone >

Have you unlocked any of the new features in this PvZ update? Which of the new mini games are you most excited about? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.