PopCap Games, a worldwide casual games company with offices in Dublin, is to take over ZipZapPlay, a social games company based in San Francisco, California, for an undisclosed sum.
With the acquisition, PopCap increases its Facebook games lineup, establishes a social studio in Silicon Valley, and positions itself for further growth and continued success in one of the hottest digital games categories.
PopCap now expects to have four or five games available on Facebook by the end of 2011.
ZipZapPlay is a venture-backed social games start-up with 17 employees, including founders Curt Bererton and Mathilde Pignol, who will continue to direct game design and development at the San Francisco studio.
“The team at ZipZapPlay is one of the best in the social games space, and combined with our existing group in Seattle gives us the opportunity to dramatically expand our development resources,” said John Vechey, PopCap co-founder and VP of corporate strategy and development, who oversaw the acquisition.
“While the acquisition creates immediate cross-promotional and operations benefits, this is a strategic move with huge long-term potential; we believe ZipZapPlay can help us further evolve and expand the definition of social games.”
Jason Kapalka, co-founder and chief creative officer at PopCap, said ZipZapPlay’s next game was very innovative and exciting. “We believe it has the potential to be a step forward in the evolution of social gaming.”
PopCap is currently recruiting, click here for more information.
