bejeweled posts

There's a lot of money in casual game publishing and PopCap remains the leader in this genre with games series like Bejeweled, Zuma, Peggle and of course Plants Vs Zombies. In a new article on the Forbes web site it states that the privately held company has been profitable every year since it started 10 years ago and currently generates $100 million in revenue. At first most of its money came from selling games for the PC and Mac but 2010 saw only 40 percent of PopCap's revenue coming from those platforms with mobile and console ports gaining ground.

Now PopCap is aiming for yet another big move; taking the company public. According to the article PopCap could file for an IPO in the second half of 2011. However that's not certain with company head Dave Roberts stating, "There are no investors pushing for it, so we will really only look at it if the markets align."

Black Friday is fast approaching but some outlets are already breaking out the price cuts early. One of them is PopCap Games who today announced that all of the casual game publisher's downloadable titles will be 50 percent off for the rest of the week.

That means terrifically addictive games like Plants Vs Zombies, Zuma, Peggle and Bejeweled should be almost impulse buys for anyone that loves great PC games. The sale ends on November 29. Keep in mind that this deal does not include bundle and game packs. The company's next major game release, Bejeweled 3, is due for release on December 7.

Bejeweled 3, the latest game in publisher PopCap's multi-million selling puzzle game series, has just been announced. The company is calling this game the first true sequel to the series in the last six years (it did release a game called Bejeweled Twist for the PC in 2008).

Bejeweled 3 will contain the four gameplay modes found in Bejeweled 2 (updated and expanded, naturally) along with new "secret' modes like Ice Storm, Butterflies and Poker (well if you mention them in the press release, PopCap, then they are not a secret anymore, are they?). In addition there will be a Quest mode with 11 mini-games which PopCap claims will be "clever hybrids of Bejeweled game-play with other classic game mechanics." You can expect to be addicted to Bejeweled 3 when its released via download and in retail stores on December 7. In the meantime our sister site Games.com has a chat with PopCap Games' co founder James Kapalka about Bejeweled 3.

BlizzCon 2010 has started in Anaheim, California and the StarCraft II section of the show floor is showing off some Blizzard-made custom maps for the hit RTS game that reference other well known games, along with a cult hit cooking TV show.

According to Shacknews, the maps include maps that make references to Valve's zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, PopCap's puzzle game Bejeweled, the hit WarCraft III mod Defense of the Ancients and even the Iron Chef TV show. The StarCraft II section is also showing off the maps made by the winners of the recent custom map contest. During the BlizzCon opening ceremony it was announced that the Blizzard custom maps will be released for free in the coming months.

It's been a huge week for Mac gamers with the launch of the Mac steam client. However, Mac gamers also have a pretty nice sale going on at casual game publisher PopCap Games. While it's not mentioned on their main web site nor on their Twitter and Facebook pages, the publisher has a big sale bundle promotion for Mac versions of several of their games.

You can purchase and download 13 Mac ports of PopCap Games, including Plants Vs Zombies, Bejeweled 2, Peggle, Zuma and more for a mere $49.95. There's no word on when this promotion will actually end so if you are a Mac user you should jump on this quickly

[Via Joystiq]

It began as a Facebook game release and now publisher PopCap Games has decided to offer up Bejeweled Blitz as a stand alone PC game title. The latest entry in the wildly popular and addictive puzzle series is now available to purchase and download from the PopCap site for $19.99.

This installment of the franchise is basically just like the Facebook version which 25 million players have already checked out, but with full high definition graphics. The game uses 60 second rounds to give players a chance to blow up as many of those pesky gems as they can. The PC version can also still link up with Facebook in the game itself to allow players to hook up and play with friends. It also adds new achievements and badges that are not in the PC version. The full version of the game also includes 1 million in-game coins that players can use for power ups and other features.

It's one of the most popular and addictive puzzle games ever made and today PopCap Games is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of Bejeweled (first known as Diamond Mine). Yes, we know even you have had some time playing the game as you match jewels, blow them up and more.

Popcacp says it has sold over 50 million units of the original game, Bejeweled 2 and the most recent PC game Bejeweled Twist since the original game was first released for the PC. It's also been named as The Most Popular Puzzle Game Series of the Century by the Guinness World Records 2010 Video Games Edition. PopCap plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary by releasing new versions of Bejeweled.

These two official add-ons from PopCap Games installs themed versions of Bejeweled and Peggle into World of Warcraft. Simply extract the files into your WoW Interface/Addons folder. After installation, players can type /bejeweled or /peggle into the chat menu to access the games.
Download the World of Warcraft Bejeweled Add-on (2 MB)
Download the World of Warcraft Peggle Add-on (8 MB)

Last week Amazon.com launched their new casual game download service where you can choose and download hundreds of games for just $9.99 each. You would think that would be a good thing but many casual game publishers are not happy with this new lower price point.

VentureBeat reports that PopCap Games, one of the most successful casual game publishers (Bejeweled, Peggle and others) won't offer their games for the new Amazon.com service. Neither will iWin.com who found Amazon.com's pricing structure "completely unacceptable" for the service's launch, according to their production director Andy Hieke. For their part, Amazon.com's Ernie Ramirez states the lower price point was justified, saying, "It's our goal to bring a lot of new people to the space."

In this currently tough economic situation some companies are dying while a few are thriving. One of them is PopCap Games, the casual PC game developer and publisher. Today the company announced that in 2008 revenues from selling their games at retail stores jumped a massive 85.3 percent. That was enough to put the company on the list of the top 20 highest earning game publishers (Specific revenue numbers were not revealed).

Popcap has, of course, sold many of its casual games like Peggle (seen above) and Bejeweled via online download but they have had recent success with publishing games in stores, particularly their recent Bejeweled Twist puzzle game.Popcap currently has 15 of their games on store shelves compared to 10 in 2007.