PopCap Games Acquires SpinTop Games

Pioneering Casual Games Firm Buys Emerging Consumer Portal and Developer to Broaden Reach and Expand Content Lineup! PopCap Games is on a roll! Last week PopCap purchased Retro64, the makers of Peggle and Venice.

Now, it seems they want to expand out past their typical web presence by picking up a web portal where gamers go to download and play more than 250 casual games.
SpinTop has created market leading games such as Mystery Solitaire™, Mahjong Escape®, and its most recent release in the popular hidden object genre, Mystery P.I. ™: The Lottery Ticket.
Companies like PopCap are making waves in an industry that is opening its eyes to casual gaming again (or has it ever stopped?)

Companies that create unique and popular puzzle games and other casual adventure games are finding good profits in games that are cheaper to develop, have a short release cycle and cost roughly $20.00.

Nintendo has seen success in this market with the Wii and PopCap is seeing success with flash games and downloadable games for the Macintosh and PC. We've also seen a few games like Zuma and Heavy Weapon show up on Xbox Live Arcade.

What's next? Will Electronic Art's "Casual Games Group" be able to hold back these large casual gaming companies?

SEATTLE, Washington – July 16, 2007 — PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced that it has acquired SpinTop Games, (http://www.SpinTop-Games.com) a consumer online destination and developer of casual games. SpinTop co-founders and executives Duncan Magee and Craig Hamilton will manage SpinTop as a subsidiary of PopCap. With the acquisition, PopCap adds a consumer game portal with more than 250 of the top downloadable games, millions of customers, and a Vancouver, British Columbia-based studio to expand its catalog of hit casual games. SpinTop has created market leading games such as Mystery Solitaire™, Mahjong Escape®, and its most recent release in the popular hidden object genre, Mystery P.I. ™: The Lottery Ticket. PopCap’s global online network attracts millions of unique visitors each month, and the combined PopCap and SpinTop network will be jointly presented to advertisers as a single network buy. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“We’re happy to be adding SpinTop’s strong roster of casual games, a Vancouver studio and a direct-to-consumer portal to our existing business,” said David Roberts, Chief Executive Officer at PopCap. “The acquisition provides new publishing opportunities for SpinTop’s games, and strengthens a distribution partnership we established with SpinTop last year.”

“We’re thrilled to become part of the de facto leader in the casual games market,” said Duncan Magee, co-founder of SpinTop. “PopCap’s focus and outstanding track record of creating the biggest brands in the business made joining this winning team an easy decision for us.”

SpinTop will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary of PopCap, with Magee and Hamilton overseeing operations out of SpinTop’s existing Vancouver, British Columbia office. SpinTop’s studio will continue to create market-leading casual games for the mass market, and PopCap will publish future SpinTop titles through its multi-platform worldwide publishing organization. SpinTop will maintain and grow its popular consumer game portal, and will continue to offer a broad selection of third-party casual PC games.

SpinTop was founded in 2004 and has quickly gained a loyal global customer base by offering high-quality, broadly appealing downloadable games in a safe, family-friendly setting. The SpinTop network attracts millions of visitors each month, with a significant portion of those visitors coming from outside North America.

About PopCap

PopCap Games (www.popcap.com) is the leading multi-platform provider of “casual games” — fun, easy-to-learn, captivating computer games that appeal to everyone from age 6 to 106. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000 and has a worldwide staff of over 120 people in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, B.C. and Dublin. Its games have been downloaded more than 200 million times by consumers worldwide, and its flagship title, Bejeweled®, has sold more than 10 million units across all platforms. Constantly acclaimed by consumers and critics, PopCap’s games are played on the Web, desktop computers, myriad mobile devices (cell phones, smartphones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, iPod and more), popular game consoles (such as Xbox), and in-flight entertainment systems. PopCap is the only casual games developer with leading market share across all major sales channels, including Web portals, retail stores, mobile operators and developers, and game device manufacturers.

PopCap, the PopCap logo and Bejeweled are trademarks of PopCap Games, Inc. and may be registered in some countries. SpinTop Games is a trademark of SpinTop Media, Inc. Mahjong Escape, Mystery Solitaire, and Mystery P.I. are trademarks used by SpinTop Games under license from its affiliate, Playtime Media, Inc., and may be registered in some countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners and are used for the benefit of those owners.

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