PopCap Acquires Sprout Games

Casual game developer PopCap Games, creator of top downloadable titles including Bejeweled and Bookworm, has announced an agreement to acquire fellow Seattle company Sprout Games. Sprout is a developer of a number of other leading casual PC titles, including the immensely popular Feeding Frenzy, which has been downloaded more than 10 million times, and has also been converted for the Xbox Live Arcade service. According to an official company statement, the acquisition is expected to serve PopCap's overall growth strategy in building expertise and maintaining a low-overhead production schedule, while also providing Sprout Games with increased resources. "We're extremely excited to join PopCap Games," said James Gwertzman, managing director of Sprout Games. "We've admired every game they've ever built. When designing our own games we often asked ourselves, 'What would PopCap do?' It's a huge honor to become part of this fantastic team." Following the acquisition, the Sprout team will move into the Seattle-based PopCap offices, consolidating operations with the PopCap development team. Gwertzman will become the Director of Business Development for PopCap.