PopCap Games acquires game maker Gastronaut Studios
PopCap Games has acquired Gastronaut Studios for an undisclosed amount to expand its presence in Xbox Live and Xbox 360 markets.
Seattle-based PopCap is one of the most successful developers of casual games — lightweight games that can be played in a short amount of time, like Bejeweled, which has sold more than 25 million copies.
Gastronaut is best known for its hit title Small Arms (pictured), which is one of the top-selling titles on Microsoft’s Xbox… Continue Reading
Amazon sparks controversy over casual games pricing
Amazon.com purchased casual game portal Reflexive back in October. So it came as no surprise when Amazon launched a casual games download service last Tuesday.
Now any of the 88 million yearly Amazon customers can purchase and download casual games for just $9.99 each.
But at the Casual Connect conference in Hamburg, long-brewing pricing tensions are coming to a head. Developers are not happy, because they see Amazon’s price-point as an attack on the industry.
One executive from… Continue Reading
PopCap Games’ retail revenues up 85 percent in 2008 as PC game sales dive
PopCap Games said its U.S. retail revenues for PC games were up 85 percent in 2008. The Seattle-based maker of casual games managed to pull that off in a year when U.S. PC retail game market fell 14 percent to $701.4 million (see below).
The private company doesn’t release sales figures. The results were reported by market research NPD. The biggest part of the growth happened in the fourth quarter thanks to the launch of Bejeweled… Continue Reading
Bejeweled, a video game chasing Solitaire, hits 25 million copies sold
It’s not often that video games hit the milestone of 25 million. A handful of titles have gotten there, such as Pokemon, The Sims, Windows Solitaire, and Tetris. Bejeweled is joining those ranks today, according to its developer, PopCap Games.
The Seattle company says it has sold more than 25 million copies of its jewelry puzzle game across a bunch of platforms, ranging from online games on the PC to mobile phones. The game first debuted… Continue Reading
Funtactix launches cross-platform Moondo gaming universe
Funtactix wants to set itself apart in online games by addressing one of the most annoying problems: the inability for users to take their game characters and achievements from one game to another. With the Moondo cross-gaming universe being unveiled today, you can do just that.
So far, the universe is small with two games involving shooting and racing. But Sam Glassenberg, chief executive of the Menlo Park, Calif. company, says the company’s 3-D engine allows… Continue Reading
PopCap Games takes a stab at games in China
U.S. video game companies haven’t done well in China. Stymied by piracy and sometimes unable to understand the tastes of Chinese gamers, they’re floundering in one of the fastest-growing game markets.
But Seattle-based PopCap Games, which has pioneered the development of casual games such as “Bejeweled,” hopes to buck the trend. The company is sending its long-time business development director James Gwertzman to Shanghai to head the company’s Asia/Pacific office. Gwertzman has studied the Chinese market… Continue Reading
PopCap Games executive interview: Don’t be stupid, have fun
If there is a hit factory in casual video games, it’s PopCap Games. While other companies drove the industry to increasingly complex and narrowly-focused games, Seattle-based PopCap has broadened the market for games and revived the arcade-like feel of early video games. About 76 percent of its customers are female and 89 percent are 30 or older. The top reason people play: stress relief. (So says the company’s surveys).
The Seattle company had sold more than 2.7… Continue Reading