Don’t look down on the casual gaming industry today, what may seem like a company that develops simple games like the famous Bejeweled, or better known as Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook, could actually worth up to USD$1.2 billion. It has been reported that Electronic Arts might be acquiring PopCap, the developer for Bejeweled, for USD650 million plus stock and earn-outs which could add up to as much as USD$1.2 billion.

The deal is not finalized yet though, it is expected to close in August. Earlier, EA already acquired Playfish, a game developer for Facebook. Last year, EA bought Angry Birds’ publisher Chilingo for USD$20 million as well as Firemint, an iOS game maker, earlier this year.

“EA’s global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries and more channels.” – John Riccitello, CEO of Electronic Arts.

With all these  acquiring of gaming companies and together with the five-year deal with Facebook signed late last year, it seems like EA is all prepared to go heads on with Zynga, the developer for the most popular games on Facebook including Farmville, Cityville and many more.

SOURCE via Mashable