Playfish

Playfish headlines

• Rovio snags former Playfish executive

  One-time Playfish vice president of global studios Jami Laes has taken up a new role at Angry Birds developer Rovio. GamesIndustry reports Laes has been appointed executive vice president of games, heading up the games division, and replacing former incumbent Petri Järvilehto, who is moving on. Both sides gave some typical press release quotes about […]

• EA lay-offs strike mobile teams in UK, India - report

  Although EA still isn’t keen to comment, it has made layoffs at at least one and probably two studios, with talk of a wider restructuring across its mobile and social divisions.

• EA to shutter The Sims Social and other Facebook games

  The Sims Social, SimCity Social and Pet Society are all facing the chop, developer and publisher EA has confirmed. The company intends to close down all three games due to slumping player activity.

• Former Playfish boss to head King.com London studio

  Playfish development director Catharina Lavers Mallet has farewelled EA for a rival gig in social gaming.

• Playfish EU GM quits for venture capitalist firm

  Playfish’s European GM John Earner has quit his role and left the company, according to reports. Earner, who was VP of product management when EA took over PlayFish in 2009, is said by Tech Crunch to be joining venture capitalist firm Accel Partners. The latest departure is numbered to be the tenth EA exec that […]

• Report - The Sims Social biting Zynga player base

  A study suggests Playfish’s Facebook phenomenon The Sims Social is taking a slice of Zynga’s pie.

• EA pleased with Online Pass, Sims Social

  Recent EA Digital initiatives – the Online Pass system and The Sims Social – have been successful for the mega-publisher.

• The Sims Social nearing 30 million MAUs

  The Sims Social maintains its lead as the fastest growing game on Facebook, approaching a significant milestone.

• EA's The Sims Social goes live with more than 4.8 million MAUs

  EA has announced The Sims Social as gone live after a public beta period, and already after only a week, the game has 4,859,046 monthly average users.

• GDC Europe 2011: Mortal Kombat, Playdom and Playfish talks announced

  The GDC Europe 2011 schedule has been expanded with newly announced presentations.

• PlayFish games to use Facebook credits from July

  EA’s social gaming arm, PlayFish, will shortly drop its platform currency in favour of Facebook credits.

• PlayFish to close three games

  PlayFish is to close three of its social-network titles, citing unsustainable performance – despite attracting a total of 59,000 average daily users.

• DeMartini exits EA Partners, Neider assumes GM role

  Former EA Partners head David DeMartini has passed the torch on, as the label expands to enfold both Angry Birds publisher Chillingo and casual portal PlayFish.

• EA: Madden sales up 5% YoY, IP going to Facebook

  EA said overnight that it had America’s bestselling August game in Madden 11, with year-on-year sales up 5 percent across all formats.

• Playfish working on social game based on well known EA brand

  Speaking with the WSJ, Playfish president Kristian Segerstrale has said it’s working on a new social game based on a well known EA brand.

• EA: It's "no coincidence" that PlayFish purchase coincided with lay-offs

  EA recently let a bunch of people go. You may have heard about it. Hell, in all likelihood, you may even be one of those people, considering how many heads rolled off the chopping block. However, according to EA SVP and CFO Eric Brown, your sacrifice was not in vain. You fueled the future. Or […]

• Report - EA makes staff cuts in some studios

  According to a report by Kotaku, EA has cut loose a fair bit of it’s staff today from some of it’s studios. It comes as the publisher today bought social games firm Playfish for $300 million. The studios affected include Tiburon and BlackBox, as well as Mythic and EA’s Redwood studio from their QA department. […]

• EA purchases Playfish for $300 million

  EA has bought social games firm Playfish for $300 million. It was bought with $275 million in cash, and $25 million in a equity retention arrangement. They will operate under the EA Interactive division. “Social gaming, with its emphasis on friends and community, is seeing tremendous growth and this is the right time to invest […]

• LGC: 40% of the industry's underprepared for digital distribution

  According to discussions set to take place during this month’s London Games Conference, with digital distribution “poised to outstrip traditional retail sales within three years,” 40 percent of the games industry is underprepared for the shift. Speakers during the LGC will address the issue, along with Nick Parker of Parker Consulting, who believes that 2013 […]