|
PopCap Games is an American video game developer and publisher, based in Seattle, Washington, United States, and is a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. It was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka, and since October 2013 employs about 400 people.〔 Most of PopCap's games are available for a fee and are purchased through Origin or Steam. PopCap's flagship title ''Bejeweled'' has sold more than 50 million units across all major platforms. PopCap games are available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Zeebo, cell phones, PDAs, iPod Classic, iOS, Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS, Windows Phone, mobile devices and in web browsers. ==History== PopCap Games was founded by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka in 2000. They wanted to create games, primarily by learning from other Internet gaming sites. Their first game was ''Bejeweled'', a huge-hit gem-swapping game, which was supported on all major platforms and awarded by Computer Gaming World Hall Of Fame in 2002. The company expanded in 2005 with the acquisition of Sprout Games, a Seattle-based casual games developer company like PopCap Games, founded by James Gwertzman. Sprout Games is the creator of the game ''Feeding Frenzy''. The Sprout team helped PopCap to make a sequel to the hit 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, Ireland, working on product localization, mobile games development, marketing, sales and business development. On August 22, 2006, it was announced that PopCap Games had entered into an agreement with Valve Corporation to deliver PopCap's games via Steam, Valve's content delivery system. Beginning on August 30, 2006, 17 of PopCap's products became available via Steam. In keeping with PopCap tradition, each PopCap game offered via Steam is available for a free trial period as well as for purchase.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=PopCap Games Now Available Via Steam )〕 PopCap began another round of expansion in July 2007 by buying other casual game developers including the creators 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 these acquisitions, the PopCap logo was rebranded, dropping the "Games" portion. PopCap's premium games list on their website are now mixed with other games from other developers/distributors. On April 5, 2011, PopCap announced the creation of a new subsidiary, 4th and Battery, started in order to create "edgier" games. Their first creation was the game ''Unpleasant Horse''. On July 12, 2011, Electronic Arts announced it was acquiring PopCap for $650 million with an additional $100 million stock option. Since the acquisition by EA, the state of 4th and Battery is unknown; its website redirects back to the main PopCap site. On August 21, 2012, PopCap fired 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. The Dublin studio was closed on September 24, 2012. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「PopCap Games」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|