PopCap Acquires Developer Retro64

Casual games powerhouse PopCap Games has announced the acquisition of Chicago-based developer Retro64 (Best Friends, Venice, turning the studio into a PopCap satellite to be managed by Retro64 founder and producer Mike Boeh. Previous to founding Retro64 in 2001, Boeh worked at Imagination Pilots Entertainment, leading programming efforts on Virtual K'Nex and Where's Waldo Exploring Geography, as well as eMusic.com and Rollingstone.com, where he served as director of technology. Over the past six years Boeh has supervised a virtual team of artists and sound engineers while handling most design, development and overall production duties himself on the studio's output, including Cosmic Bugs, Water Bugs, WarHeads SE, Z-ball, Best Friends, and the recently released PopCap published Venice. Said PopCap co-founder and CCO Jason Kapalka, "I've worked with Mike several times over the past decade, and we recently published Retro64's Venice game, so all of us at PopCap are familiar with Retro64's design and development philosophy. We really respect the quality and focus on fun that Retro64 brings to the table, and are excited to be working with Mike on a full-time basis going forward."