'PopCap World' social game service brings Bejeweled, et al to Korea

popcap world
Casual game maker PopCap and major online game publisher NCSoft today announced a partnership that would bring multiplayer versions of many PopCap games to Korea later this year.

PopCap World, as the service is called, will include free-to-play Korean versions of 13 PopCap titles, including Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, Zuma and an all-new Korean exclusive multiplayer game dubbed Super Zuma. Premium paid elements for these games will be added later.

It's unclear whether these multiplayer versions will be tailored to simultaneous play, as portions of PopCap's recent XBLA release of Plants vs. Zombies, or asynchronous score competitions, as PopCap's Facebook releases like Bejeweled Blitz.

Calling today's announcement "just the beginning," PopCap VP for Asia/Pacific James Gwertzman was expansive in describing the impact of the new service. "When Disneyland first opened, it revolutionized the amusement park industry and ushered in the era of the modern theme park," he said. "In the same way, we believe PopCap World has the potential to redefine casual games in Korea and beyond by offering players the most immersive PopCap experience yet."

This is the first product from Popcap's Shanghai Games Studio, which was opened in 2008 to cater to the "significant differences in the playing habits and expectations of Asian consumers." A company rep says that PopCap World was designed with overseas audiences in mind and will not necessarily be arriving Stateside anytime soon. Then again, if this proves to be a runaway hit overseas, that plan might change.

Rumor: Bejeweled-maker PopCap to sell for over $1 billion

You know, the more rumors about PopCap there are, the more chances we have to bug the company about bringing Peggle to Facebook. The freshest from the mill is that PopCap is preparing for another acquisition ... this time of itself to another company. TechCrunch reports that, according to anonymous sources, the company will soon sell for over $1 billion, though no buyers have been officially mentioned yet.

Of course, this leaves the table wide open for wild speculation. TechCrunch says, according to anonymous sources, that Zynga approached PopCap with the intention to purchase, but backed down after PopCap named its price. The website has also heard that EA could be the lucky shopper, but $1 billion is a far cry from the $400 million it paid for Playfish in 2009. That all being said, a source close to the matter tells us there's currently no internal information on the sale.

But let's play devil's advocated for a moment. Why would PopCap suddenly sell when it has openly stated its intent on filing for initial public offering (IPO) by the end of this year? I'd imagine that since this is, in fact, the case, PopCap would ask for far more than $1 billion, and any more than that would just be ridiculous. An IPO that low these days just sounds silly, especially for a company that has been around for over 10 years. (For reference, the Pandora Internet radio service just filed for a $2.4 billion IPO, and it's only been around since about 2005.)

Furthermore, the company just purchased ZipZapPlay with the goal of increasing its presence on Facebook--that doesn't sound like a move a company that's ready to sell would make. Simply put, PopCap just doesn't seem like the type to sell, but we could easily be proven otherwise. Rumors or not, this summer will prove mighty interesting for PopCap--even if there's no Peggle for Facebook.