Electronic Arts Buys Angry Birds Publisher

Video game publisher Electronic Arts has announced that it has acquired Chillingo, the publisher of such iPhone powered hits as Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, with the intention of using it as a launch pad to expand its operations in the mobile gaming space.

Sources close to the transaction have been quoted as saying that Electronic Arts paid under 20 million dollars in cash for the small publisher, which is located in Cheshire in the United Kingdom.

Chillingo has not created the iPhone hit Angry Birds, which has managed to sell more than 6.5 million units since it was launched in 2009.

That honor goes to Finish company Rovio.

Angry Birds is now also available on the Android platform, with a free to play model and supported by advertising.

Electronic Arts has probably snapped up Chillingo because of its ability to spot promising iPhone and Android video games and then support them until launch.

A statement from Electronic Arts reads, “By acquiring Chillingo, EA Mobile is increasing its market leadership on the Apple Platform as well as reaffirming its position as the world’s leading wireless entertainment publisher. This acquisition will combine Chillingo’s expertise in cultivating the ideas of independent developers with EA’s global mobile publishing reach.”

The move comes after last year EA also bought Playfish, best known for its Pet Society game, for about 400 million dollars, just as the company was seeing losses and preparing to lay off a significant number of workers.

The two acquisitions show that Electronic Arts understands the impact that mobile and social gaming will have in the future and is trying to create divisions which will be able to generate important revenue from these new markets.

Peter Moore, the leader of the EA Sports division, has recently said that even franchises as big as FIFA need to be prepared to move from disk based revenue models to ones that involve social and mobile gaming.