EA Acquires JAMDAT Mobile

EA, the game publishing giant on a number of platforms, has purchased JAMDAT Mobile, Inc., for a surprisingly large $680 million. From the press release:

'EA and JAMDAT together plan to publish over 50 games for mobile phones in the first twelve months following the completion of the acquisition, including popular titles like Tetris, Bejeweled, JAMDAT Bowling, Need For SpeedTM, EA SPORTS Madden NFLTM Football and EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer.

“This is an important strategic acquisition for Electronic Arts,†said EA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Probst. “Together we intend to build a leading global position in the rapidly growing business of providing games on mobile phones. We look forward to the JAMDAT team joining EA.â€'

JAMDAT should be of interest to Pocket PC gamers because a few years back, they purchased a small company called Hexacto. At the time, Hexacto was one of the top-shelf companies on the Pocket PC and produced the popular "Addict" sports games as well as several other titles. After the buyout, Hexacto fell silent (except for a lackluster crossword puzzle game), although JAMDAT continued to market the games. Since EA hasn't shown much interest in Pocket PCs, and judging from the wording of the press release, I'm guessing that the focus will remain on the larger and more profitable mobile phone market. Too bad. Wouldn't it have been nice to have FINALLY had a workable Need for Speed on the Pocket PC?

As an aside, if you've been thinking about snatching up any of the old Hexacto games lately, now is probably the time. With new owners, those games may become unavailable in the next few months.