NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electronic Arts said it plans to buy the publisher of "Angry Birds," one of the most popular games on Apple's iPhone, pushing the second largest U.S. video game publisher deeper into the hot mobile games market.
A source close to the deal told Reuters EA will pay under $20 million in cash plus other undisclosed considerations.
An EA spokeswoman confirmed the deal, but did not disclose the financial terms. Under the deal, EA will not receive the intellectual property rights to "Angry Birds," which will remain under Rovio, the Finnish company that developed the game, the company said.
Some analysts were surprised that EA would not acquire "Angry Birds". Neither company commented on what games or intellectual property would be included in the terms.
"I'm kind of wondering what they bought," said Todd Mitchell, a Kaufman Bros analyst. "But in light of EA not getting the IP, they're buying the development platform to put their own IP on it in hopes of driving social networking and customers back to their own properties."
Electronic Arts, which owns Medal of Honor and Madden NFL franchises, can push its established brands through new social games in the same way that Disney, which bought social gaming company Playdom for $563.2 million in July, has used with its ESPN brand in the ESPNU College Town game for Facebook.
Chillingo publishes other mobile games but none have been quite as successful as "Angry Birds," which allows players to help angry birds destroy pigs with a huge slingshot in various game stages.
The company also publishes "iDracula", a shooter game where players are vampire hunters and Predators, a sci-fi game.
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A source close to the deal told Reuters EA will pay under $20 million in cash plus other undisclosed considerations.
An EA spokeswoman confirmed the deal, but did not disclose the financial terms. Under the deal, EA will not receive the intellectual property rights to "Angry Birds," which will remain under Rovio, the Finnish company that developed the game, the company said.
Some analysts were surprised that EA would not acquire "Angry Birds". Neither company commented on what games or intellectual property would be included in the terms.
"I'm kind of wondering what they bought," said Todd Mitchell, a Kaufman Bros analyst. "But in light of EA not getting the IP, they're buying the development platform to put their own IP on it in hopes of driving social networking and customers back to their own properties."
Electronic Arts, which owns Medal of Honor and Madden NFL franchises, can push its established brands through new social games in the same way that Disney, which bought social gaming company Playdom for $563.2 million in July, has used with its ESPN brand in the ESPNU College Town game for Facebook.
Chillingo publishes other mobile games but none have been quite as successful as "Angry Birds," which allows players to help angry birds destroy pigs with a huge slingshot in various game stages.
The company also publishes "iDracula", a shooter game where players are vampire hunters and Predators, a sci-fi game.
� Continued...
Watch Arts Online
