Electronic Arts purchases PopCap for $750 million

Electronic Arts has purchased developer PopCap for $700 million.

EA will pay around $650 million (£408 million) in cash, with $100 million (£63 million) in EA stock to be issued to certain PopCap shareholders.

PopCap has developed popular casual and puzzle games such as Plants vs Zombies, Bejeweled 3, Zuma and Peggle. PopCap's games have been met with great success on iPhone, iPad, Android, PC and Facebook.

"We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games," said David Roberts, CEO of PopCap. "By working with EA, we'll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience."

EA CEO John Riccitiello said: "EA and PopCap are a compelling combination. PopCap's great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA's momentum and accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business. EA's global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries, and more channels."

In April, PopCap acquired Facebook game developer ZipZapPlay.

Electronic Arts is the publisher of such games as Crysis 2, Dragon Age II, Dead Space 2 and Fifa 11.

Electronic Arts will release Battlefield 3 on October 25 in North America and October 28 in Europe featuring a two player co-operative mode alongside the campaign and competitive multiplayer.

> Read our preview of Battlefield 3

Watch Battlefield 3's 12-minute trailer below: