EA sinks its teeth into Trade Nations developer Bight Games

Sometimes they're just way too easy to pass up. EA, veteran games publisher and now proud owner of PopCap Games, has purchased Charlottetown, Canada-based mobile game developer Bight Games for an undisclosed amount. (And just when you thought EA had little money left to throw around.)

Bight Games is best known for freemium iPhone games, or mobile games that take on the Facebook games payment model, like Trade Nations. In fact, the developer recently brought it's popular iPhone game published by Z2Live, Trade Nations, to Facebook.

Bight Games will join the existing EA Interactive (EAi) development division in Canada, though according to a blog post written by EAi lead Barry Cottle, EAi and Bight Games already go way back. The team has helped in the creation of several unnamed EAi mobile games, so I guess we can think of this as the two simply tying the knot after dating for so long--so cute!

"The freemium game model in mobile is here to stay, and it's growing fast," Cottle writes. And the guy has a point. Just look at games like Smurfs Village for iPhone by Capcom, which we all know probably did a little too well. But that's just one of likely hundreds of successful freemium games on smartphones. And EAi looks to dig deeper into that gold mine once the deal closes later this month.

[Via VentureBeat]

Do you think this was a good move for EA and EAi? With Bight Games, do you think EA could find success on mobile phones with the freemium model like Capcom has with its Beeline division? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.