Tagged: popcap games

Amazon’s Casual Games Store Causes Outrage

Amazon’s move into the casual games market has been met with lots of praise from customers, but publishers have criticized the move, saying the new endeavor is bringing “long-brewing pricing tensions” in the casual games space, saying developers see Amazon’s $9.99 price point “as an attack on the industry” where some games still command a $19.99 price.

As a result of this, PopCap Games has pulled its titles from Amazon’s store, though the article points out that many casual game portals have price clubs which make most of the titles fall below $9.99 anyway, so all this controversy is moot. However, they do say that the main issue is the iPhone, noting that it offers games for a variety of prices as low as $0.99 or even free.

PopCap Acquires SpinTop

Expanding its reach to casual gamers everywhere, PopCap Games has announced that it has acquired SpinTop Games. Both are casual games developers, with the latter having a “consumer online destination” for such games.

As per the announcement, SpinTop co-founders and executives Duncan Magee and Craig Hamilton will manage the company as a subsidiary of PopCap. The company adds to PopCaps portfolio with more than 250 top downloadable games, millions of customers and more.

“We’re happy to be adding SpinTop’s strong roster of casual games, a Vancouver studio and a direct-to-consumer portal to our existing business,” said David Roberts, Chief Executive Officer at PopCap. “The acquisition provides new publishing opportunities for SpinTop’s games, and strengthens a distribution partnership we established with SpinTop last year.”

“We’re thrilled to become part of the de facto leader in the casual games market,” said Duncan Magee, co-founder of SpinTop. “PopCap’s focus and outstanding track record of creating the biggest brands in the business made joining this winning team an easy decision for us.”

No financial details were disclosed.