PopCap Games#PopCap Games Framework

File:John Vechey for Disney Infinity's Play Lab.jpg

PopCap Games was founded by John Vechey, Brian Fiete, and Jason Kapalka in 2000. They originally incorporated as "Sexy Action Cool", a phrase taken from a poster of Desperado.{{Citation|last=GDC|title=Classic Game Postmortem - Bejeweled|date=2019-01-08|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1jlw64ddlg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/e1jlw64ddlg| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|access-date=2019-04-30}}{{cbignore}} Their first title was a strip poker game called "Foxy Poker" and was supposed to be a revenue stream for their future titles.

File:James Gwertzman at the Montreal International Games Summit (cropped).jpg]]

Their first game as PopCap was Bejeweled, 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 game Feeding 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 in Dublin 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 the Chicago-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.{{cite web |url=https://www.engadget.com/2011/04/05/popcap-launches-edgy-4th-and-battery-label/ |title=PopCap launches edgy '4th & Battery' label |first=Alexander |last=Sliwinski |date=April 5, 2011 |website=Engadget |access-date=November 11, 2018 |archive-date=November 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181112021305/https://www.engadget.com/2011/04/05/popcap-launches-edgy-4th-and-battery-label/ |url-status=live }} Their first creation was the game Unpleasant Horse. On July 12, 2011, Electronic Arts announced that it was acquiring PopCap for $650 million with an additional $100 million stock option.{{cite web |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110712007011/en/EA-Acquire-PopCap-Games |title=EA to Acquire PopCap Games |date=July 12, 2011 |website=Business Wire |access-date=November 11, 2018 |archive-date=May 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531155532/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110712007011/en/EA-Acquire-PopCap-Games |url-status=live }} 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-08-22/electronic-arts-popcap-games-cuts-jobs-may-close-office |title=Electronic Arts' PopCap Games Cuts Jobs, May Close Office |first=Cliff |last=Edwards |date=August 22, 2012 |website=Bloomberg Businessweek |access-date=November 11, 2018 |archive-date=November 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111215341/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-08-22/electronic-arts-popcap-games-cuts-jobs-may-close-office |url-status=live }} The Dublin studio was closed on September 24, 2012.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.mcvuk.com/development/ea-closes-popcap-dublin |title=EA closes PopCap Dublin |first=Craig |last=Chapple |date=September 24, 2012 |magazine=MCV |access-date=November 11, 2018 |archive-date=January 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118052130/https://www.mcvuk.com/development/ea-closes-popcap-dublin |url-status=live }}

{{Main|List of PopCap Games games}}

PopCap has developed over 50 games over the past 20 years. Games developed by PopCap include Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, Peggle, and Bookworm.

{{Main|Bejeweled (series)}}Bejeweled is a series of tile-matching puzzle video games created by PopCap Games. Bejeweled was released initially for browsers 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.

{{Main|Plants vs. Zombies}}

Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense and strategy video game developed and originally published by PopCap Games for Windows and OS X in May 2009, and ported to consoles, handhelds, mobile devices, and remastered versions for personal computers.

{{Main|Peggle (series)}}

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) and Peggle Blast (2014).

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• {{Official website|https://www.ea.com/studios/popcap}}

{{Electronic Arts}}

{{PopCap}}

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Category:2000 establishments in Washington (state)

Category:2011 mergers and acquisitions

Category:American companies established in 2000

Category:Electronic Arts subsidiaries

Category:Multinational companies headquartered in the United States

Category:Software companies based in Seattle

Category:Video game companies established in 2000

Category:Video game development companies