EA has made another move to better its position in the casual and mobile space. Fresh off a $750 million (or more) acquisition of PopCap, the publisher has acquired Bight Games, the creators of a few notable iOS IPs, the Facebook free-to-play and iOS resource game Trade Nations [Free], and the helping hands behind a gaggle of licensed titles, including NBA JAM [$.99 / HD] port and Legends of Wreslemania [$2.99].
While this acquisition comes as a surprise of sorts, the space EA continues to buy itself into shouldn’t. EA has acquired numerous social and mobile developers over the last year or so, cementing the fact that it wants in on the emerging digital market in a bad way.
The purchase price hasn’t been made public, which according to Venture Beat, indicates that EA didn’t have to pay much for the Canada-based developer. But how much is “not much” after a $750 million dollar acquisition, right?
In an EA.com bog post, EA executive Barry Cottle suggests that EA’s familiarity with the studio and the growth of the F2P model factored into the decision.
“At EAi, many of us already know Bight as a partner — we have worked with their talented team to develop several of our successful mobile games to date.
“Bight deepens our expertise in one of the fastest-growing segments of mobile games at an important time. We look forward to having them join our team at EAi when the deal closes later this month.”
In other news, I’ve started my own mobile company. My catalogue is small (0) and my experience in social is “suspect,” but I’m open for a buy-out, EA. Just saying.
