PopCap acquires ZipZapPlay

PopCap has announced the acquisition of San Francisco-based social developer ZipZapPlay, along with the company's existing Facebook line up.

Seventeen-strong ZipZapPlay has been received venture-backing in the past, allowing it to build up a portfolio of social network titles such as Baking Life. No staff changes are believed to have taken place as a result of the deal and ZipZapPlay will continue to be run by founders Curt Bererton (CEO) and Mathilde Pignol (CCO).

"The team at ZipZapPlay is one of the best in the social games space, and combined with our existing group in Seattle gives us the opportunity to dramatically expand our development resources," said PopCap's VP of corporate strategy and development John Vechey.

"While the acquisition creates immediate cross-promotional and operations benefits, this is a strategic move with huge long-term potential; we believe ZipZapPlay can help us further evolve and expand the definition of social games."

PopCap hopes that the acquisition will allow it to continue to increase the Facebook presence initiated by PopCap titles like Bejewelled and is aiming for a total of five Facebook games to be online by the end of the calendar year.

No financial terms of the agreement have been made public.