Popcap, the casual game maker with hits such as Bejeweled or Peggle, seems to be everywhere. This appearance is actually not an illusion. They really are everywhere. Originally, I was just going to mention the news that Popcap has made a deal with Sony to syndicate five of their titles to the Playstation Network on the PS3 for $9.99 each.
Then another article caught my eye. Apparently, Popcap had been pushing their retail presence over 2008, and while the larger PC gaming retail sales were down 14 percent, Popcap’s retail sales were up 85 percent.
The nail in the coffin for this blog post came later in the day, when setting up a new Sony Ericsson Xperia for the lab. After installing Windows Mobile 6.1, I was poking around, and saw that the default setup included a trial version of Bejeweled 2 right in the OS. Clearly, Popcap’s software syndication has reached a point of omnipresence.
While I understand the mobile expansion, I wonder at the expansion of the software to core gaming systems and PC gaming retail markets. Has Popcap simply reached full market saturation in the casual space, and is now overflowing into more traditional waters? Or do they see the casual gamer in all of us? My gut feeling is the latter, thought keeping Marshall McLuhan in mind, I’m not sure if core gaming systems are the right medium for their message. That said, so far they seem to be doing quite well for themselves – it will be an interesting space to watch.
