Rumor: EA to buy PopCap for over $1 billion

Bejeweled
Now, this is a last ditch effort if we've ever seen one. TechCrunch reports that, following up with yesterday's news that PopCap may sell for over $1 billion, EA may very well be the company at the checkout counter. The website cites two anonymous sources that point to the nearly 30-year-old games company as the buyer. And no, the asking price has not changed--it's still insane.

But EA, which has enjoyed a distant second to Zynga in the social space, just might be crazy enough to bid what TechCrunch reports is 13 percent of their $7 billion plus market cap. This could truly be the company's Hail Mary Pass to win the social and mobile race once and for all, especially considering how long it could take EA to make all that money back.

We thought it was crazy when EA bought Playfish in 2009 for a whopping $400 million, but this clearly blows that out of the water. Unfortunately, neither company has enjoyed the runaway success both likely had hoped for. (You don't spend $400 million, much less $1 billion for second place.) So we can only hope that, if this buyout goes down, EA doesn't repeat history with PopCap.

If this purchase happens, the Bejeweled creator will obviously put its imminent IPO (initial public offering) on hold. As of this writing, a source close to the matter tells us there's currently no internal information on the sale.

The Sims Social team is thankful, like really thankful, you're still here

Jeez, when do the boxes of tissues start going around? Either the folks at Playfish really love their The Sims Social fans, or they're really scared of the thought of them leaving. A few members of the game's design and community team have expressed what they love the most about fans of The Sims Social, the number of which has been dwindling for some time.

"Where would we be without your creativity, enthusiasm and general awesome? Nowhere good, that's for sure," The Sims Social designer Mark writes. "Probably wandering the streets aimlessly dreaming of what could have been. Thank you to all our fans, we appreciate it."

Other notables from the Playfish team touted The Sims Social players' feedback on the forums, strange stories that they share and the creations they've come up with. There's no doubt that the Playfish and EA teams working on The Sims Social are genuinely thankful for their players, but this level of ... mushiness is unprecedented in online games. Maybe it's just the teams' style?

The Sims Social has been in decline for some time, just recently losing its number two spot to the old runner-up king FarmVille. The game now hosts 30 million monthly and 5.9 million daily players, according to AppData, and the downward slope has only stemmed off over the weekend. We have some ideas for how the game can reclaim its former glory. But for now, the Playfish team wants you players to know how much they love you, so please, don't leave.

Are you still digging The Sims Social since its release this summer? What do you think the game needs to reclaim its number two spot back from FarmVille?

Sims Social survey lets you sound off on item prices, favorite features and more

It's that time folks - time to let your collective voices be heard! EA wants to know how much fun (or not) you're having with the Sims Social on Facebook, and they've released a fairly long survey to help you tell them. This survey contains all sorts of questions, ranging from the basics of how often you play the game, to allowing you to rate your opinion on item pricing (are they too cheap? too expensive?) and what some of your favorite features are in the game.

Of course, the point of all of this is to gather enough opinions to actually sway the way the game develops in the future. Hopefully, with questions dealing with how much we like to "build" items with parts (bookcases, double beds, etc.), and the option to say that you don't like it at all, we may actually see a lessening in those kinds of items, if enough users agree. You can even rank various gameplay features (decorating your house, visiting friends, customizing your Sim, etc.) in the order that you like them. In this way, perhaps we'll see more focus being placed on the most (overall) liked feature, and you'll be able to say you helped to make that happen.

Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of survey that will allow you to give your opinion on future item sets, but there are plenty of blank text boxes for you to say exactly what you want to the developers in a place that you know they'll see it. Again, this survey is prety lengthy (when compared to other Facebook game surveys anyway), so you'll want to make sure you have around 5-10 minutes to set aside to take it.

We've taken this survey as well, and if we start to notice any gameplay changes arising because of options listed here, we'll make sure to let you know. In the meantime, head over to this link right here to take the survey for yourself.