PopCap Games Acquires New Social Game Developer ZipZapPlay

PopCap Games, the leviathan behind Bejeweled and Peggle, announced today that they have acquired the social games developer ZipZap Play. A venture-backed startup founded in 2007 and based in San Francisco, ZipZap Play are responsible for the Facebook game Baking Life.

“The team at ZipZapPlay is one of the best in the social games space”, says PopCap co-founder John Vechey, who goes on to remark: “while the acquisition creates immediate cross-promotional and operations benefits, this is a strategic move with huge long-term potential [and] we believe ZipZapPlay can help us further evolve and expand the definition of social games.”

Until the acquisition, ZipZap Play boasted only seventeen employees including including founders Curt Bererton and Mathilde Pignol. “We’re elated to join the leading casual games developer and help grow PopCap’s presence in the social arena,” said Bererton. “PopCap’s focus on innovative gameplay and user experience meshes with our own design philosophy. We can’t wait to put our heads together with PopCap and start creating the next generation of games for Facebook and other social platforms.”

ZipZapPlay will continue to operate as an independent studio in San Francisco and they expect to have four or five games available on Facebook by the end of 2011.

Watch this space.