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| Formerly | Sexy Action Cool (2000) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2000; 26 years ago (2000) |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Matt Nutt (general manager)[1] |
| Products | List of games |
Number of employees | ~400[2] (2010) |
| Parent | Electronic Arts (2011–present) |
| Divisions |
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| Website | ea.com/ea-studios/popcap |
PopCap Games, Inc. is an Americanvideo game developer based inSeattle and a subsidiary ofElectronic Arts.[3] The company was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete, and Jason Kapalka.
Originally founded under the nameSexy Action Cool, their first title was a strip poker game which served as a revenue stream for future titles.[4] PopCap has developed several games for computers, consoles, and mobile devices with their most popular games beingBejeweled,Peggle,Zuma, andPlants vs. Zombies. PopCap was acquired and became a subsidiary of Electronic Arts on July 12, 2011.[5]
PopCap Games was founded by John Vechey, Brian Fiete, andJason Kapalka in 2000. They originally incorporated as "Sexy Action Cool", a phrase taken from a poster ofDesperado.[4] Their first title was a strip poker game called "Foxy Poker" and was supposed to be a revenue stream for their future titles.[4]
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Their first game as PopCap wasBejeweled, a gem-swapping game, which was supported on all major platforms and given an award by Computer Gaming World Hall Of Fame in 2002. The company expanded in 2005 with the acquisition of Sprout Games, a casual games developer company in Seattle like PopCap Games, started by James Gwertzman.
Sprout Games created the gameFeeding Frenzy. The Sprout team helped PopCap make a sequel to the game,Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown, with Gwertzman becoming the director of business development at PopCap. In early 2006, PopCap International was opened, based inDublin working on product localization, mobile games development, marketing, sales, and business development.
PopCap began another round of expansion in July 2007 by buying other casual game developers including the creator of an online consumer portal, SpinTop Games. One week prior, the company acquired theChicago-based development house Retro64, founded by Mike Boeh, which is best known for their retro-arcade action and puzzle titles. After the acquisitions, the PopCap logo was rebranded, dropping the "Games" portion. PopCap's premium games list on their website are mixed with other games from other developers/distributors. PopCap hosted several games on PopCap.com and other websites, online and premium, until 2014, when they stopped offering games from their site.
On April 5, 2011, PopCap announced the creation of a new subsidiary, 4th and Battery, started in order to create "edgier" games.[6] Their first creation was the gameUnpleasant Horse. On July 12, 2011,Electronic Arts announced that it was acquiring PopCap for $650 million with an additional $100 million stock option.[7] On August 21, 2012, PopCap laid off 50 employees in North America in a move to address a shift to mobile and free-to-play games and evaluated ceasing operations of its Dublin studio.[5] The Dublin studio was closed on September 24, 2012.[8]
In 2014, Vechey was the last of the founders to announce his departure from the company.[9] This followed Kalpaka's resignation earlier the same year. Fiete left in 2010, prior to PopCap's acquisition by EA.[10]
PopCap has developed over 50 games over the past 20 years. Games developed by PopCap includeBejeweled,Plants vs. Zombies,Peggle, andBookworm.[3]
Bejeweled is a series oftile-matchingpuzzle video games created by PopCap Games.Bejeweled was released initially forbrowsers in 2000, followed by five sequels:Bejeweled 2 (2004),Bejeweled Twist (2008),Bejeweled Blitz (2009),Bejeweled 3 (2010),Bejeweled Stars (2016) and more, all by PopCap Games and its parent company, Electronic Arts.
Plants vs. Zombies is atower defense andstrategy video game developed and originally published by PopCap Games forWindows andOS X in May 2009, and ported to consoles, handhelds, mobile devices, and remastered versions for personal computers.
Peggle is a series of casual puzzle video games created by PopCap Games.Peggle was released initially for desktop in 2007, followed by three sequels:Peggle Nights (2008),Peggle 2 (2013) andPeggle Blast (2014).
Zuma is a tile-matching puzzle video game developed and published by PopCap Games.Zuma was released initially for multiple platforms, followed by one enhanced version, Zuma Deluxe, and two sequels:Zuma's Revenge! (2009), andZuma Blitz (2010).
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