November 9th, 2009 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »
After weeks of speculation, EA finally announced to have acquired Playfish, a development studio with a focus on social gaming on the web as well as on platforms like the iPhone.
Playfish has been acquired for $275 Million in cash and $ 25 Million in equity retention arrangements that will run over milestones until December 31st of 2011. The last monster acquisition by EA that had any effect was the Acquisition of Jamdat for somewhere around $ 700 Million.
"Social gaming, with its emphasis on friends and community, is seeing tremendous growth and this is the right time to invest to strengthen our participation in this space," said Barry Cottle, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Interactive. "EAi has been successfully leading the charge for EA, and with the addition of proven expertise from Playfish, their broad consumer base and strong game brands, we're moving ahead aggressively in our plans to lead in the category of cross-platform social entertainment."
"The industry is undergoing dramatic transformation and joining EA is the ideal opportunity for us to push forward our goals to lead in the social entertainment evolution on a faster and much larger scale," said Kristian Segerstrale, CEO and Co-founder of Playfish. "EAi's vision and entrepreneurial culture are consistent with our own, and together, we are in position to be the company that defines new and innovative connected experiences that will change the way people play games."
