There is a rumor that EA has quietly bought social game maker Playfish for $250 million. Yahoo Finance reported the rumor, putting the price tag on EA s acquisition and quoting a source as saying Playfish was expecting profits of $75 million this year. While media coverage has spread to game press outlets, there is no confirmation from EA at the time of this post.
UK based Playfish has a reputation among social game developers for thoughtful development and hit games. In a company profile on TechCrunch in July, Playfish was said to be profitable and sitting on a $17 million cash infusion. TechCrunch also said every one of its games have made the Facebook top 10 list. Among popular Playfish games are Pet Society, Restaurant City, and Country Story.
Writing for Gamasutra, Leigh Alexander talks to analysts to ponder EA’s angle in going after a social gaming acquisition, and specifically why it might have gone after Playfish. In the article, Playfish claims 50 million active users playing 1 billion sessions per month across their slate of nine game titles.
Read more at Gamasutra {link no longer active}.
