With more than 60 million active player across all of its Facebook, MySpace, Google, and iPhone games every month, social network game developer Playfish was ripe for the picking. Now they’ve been picked. EA has acquired the company for $US275 million in cash and $US25 million in equity retention agreements, with up to an additional $US100 million in variable cash consideration, pending the achievement of certain performance milestones through December 31st of 2011.

Playfish will now operate as a part of EA Interactive, a division of the company dedicated to web and wireless games. More than 150 million Playfish titles are installed and played around the world, with titles like Pet Society, of which I am a big fan, generating more than 1 billion play sessions a month.

“Social gaming, with its emphasis on friends and community, is seeing tremendous growth and this is the right time to invest to strengthen our participation in this space,” said Barry Cottle, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Interactive. “EAi has been successfully leading the charge for EA, and with the addition of proven expertise from Playfish, their broad consumer base and strong game brands, we’re moving ahead aggressively in our plans to lead in the category of cross-platform social entertainment.”

If there was any doubt that EA was completely serious about the social networking games space, this should get rid of it. This is an aggressive move into the growing industry segment that could only be topped by the acquisition of Mafia Wars creators Zynga, which I am fully expecting some major game company to announce any day now.

More than 5,000 iconic comic book characters will soon be in the hands of Disney, raising serious questions about the future of Marvel video game titles from Activision, Sega, and the upcoming MMO from Gazillion Entertainment. Under the terms of the agreement, Disney will pay Marvel shareholders $US30 per share for their Marvel stock, plus .745 of a share of Disney stock for each share they own.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

That’s Disney’s say on the matter, and here is Marvel’s, from the official press release:

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organisation and infrastructure around the world.”

We’re staying on top of the situation, with calls out to Disney, Marvel, Activision, and SEGA for comment on what effects this move will have on Marvel-based video game properties.

Where does that leave Midway? While the name may have changed, a company spokesperson told Kotaku today that “Midway Games Inc. still exists, and the Midway trademark and games such as Mortal Kombat and This is Vegas and most of the IP library are now owned by Warner Bros.”

We asked if the WB will continue to use the Midway label when it eventually releases a new Mortal Kombat game, This Is Vegas or any other title based on the classic intellectual properties it acquired.

“It will be up to Warner Bros. to determine how they will approach their branding strategy,” a rep told us.

A handful of Midway employees have publicly mourned the passing of Midway Games on Twitter, which originally began life as the Midway Mfg. Co. in 1958.

According to the LA Times‘ report on the matter, Warner’s $US33 million bid for the better portion of the company’s assets was the only serious offer. There were no other formal bids.

As part of a buy out time line that would accept offers until June 24th, Midway’s goods and people were previously planned to go up for auction on June 29th to the entity with the deepest pockets. No need for that now.

Warner’s bid would net the media giant development studios in Chicago (Mortal Kombat, Stranglehold) and Seattle (The Suffering, This Is Vegas) and rights to new and classic IP. It would also almost certainly mean another Mortal Kombat and DC crossover.

Midway still has two orphaned studios, one in San Diego, one in Newcastle (Wheelman), with the latter currently seeking a buyer for the team and its original Necessary Force property.

More details at the LA Times.

Warner Bros. emerges as sole bidder for Midway Games [LA Times]

id Software is still a development studio that commands respect, but it’s one that had found itself not quite fitting in of late, its principals told us during a phone interview tied to the announcement of the company’s sale to ZeniMax.

One of the problems lately, Carmack told Kotaku, is that id just wasn’t a good fit with big publishers these days. “As we were shopping Rage and Doom and upcoming stuff, talking about all of that, we were getting a pretty consistent line from all the publishers,” he said. “They were willing to continue to fund our working with partner companies for all of these but pretty much ever publisher said, ‘Well, it would be worth much more to us if you would grow your studio and do more of your own work internally. That’s why we already started to staff up to do Doom 4 internally. So things were already moving in that direction.”

Carmack spoke specifically of Activision, where id’s games such as the upcoming Wolfenstein (developed in partnership with Raven), would be published under the same label as works from Activision’s internal studios, like Call of Duty and Modern Warfare studios Treyarch and Infinity Ward. “Going back to a much earlier time,” Carmack said, “We were just Activision’s shooter shop. We did the FPSes there. There was no conflict, and that was great. But they brought on their own internal studios and there’s a very real conflict there between whether they want to put resources behind something they own the IP for and derive all the profit for versus something where they don’t own the IP and they might feel like any effort they’re putting into it isn’t going into their value but somebody else’s. That problem has grown over the years as budgets have increased.”

Hollenshead told Kotaku that he found ZeniMax to have the closest match with id in terms of a philosophy on how to best make and sell games. It was a better fit, he said, than the studio’s recent publishing partners Activision and EA.

What comes out of the deal is a stronger id, the men say. “Things aren’t really going to be different in terms of what’s going on at id,” Hollenshead said. “We’re not going to change the kinds of games we make… It allows us to accelerate the growth of our internal studios, so we can focus on making all of our internal games as opposed to working with external partners where there has been a step down in quality… There will be more, better games from id. So if you’re a fan of the company, then it is all upside and all things to look forward to.”

Carmack’s high on id even now, of course. He said the company just did a “first-look” event for upcoming EA-published, id-developed racing-FPS Rage last week and that it “went spectacularly.”

Doom 4 will be published by ZeniMax/Bethesda. The Wolfenstein and Rage games being made under Activision and EA’s publishing labels will continue as such. But any sequels will be ZeniMax games.

And will there be any Bethesda-id crossover coming out of this? “The teams are very much separate,” Carmack said. “There is a lot of mutual respect there. There’s going to be a lot of communication and cross-pollination. I doubt there’s going to be any technology shifts between the two companies, but there’s certainly going to be cooperation. And I wouldn’t be shocked to see some hints of different things crossing over in different ways. That’s just the kind of stuff when you have lots of people who think everybody is working on cool stuff together.”

Terms of today’s deal were not disclosed. ZeniMax and id are private companies.

Two of the most acclaimed game development studios of all time are joining forces. ZeniMax Media, parent company of Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls development studio Bethesda Softworks, announced today that it is purchasing legendary Doom and Wolfenstein studio id.

In an interview with Kotaku, id co-founder John Carmack, id CEO Todd Hollenshead and ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman said the purchase will change none of the principles or principals of id and Bethesda but will allow id to grow like it never has before. The purchase does not affect plans for previously announced games from id that are slated for release through other publishers, including the Activision-backed Wolfenstein and the EA Partners-planned Rage.

Why did id sell?

“We’re really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured,” Carmack said. “And we’ve really gotten more IPs than we’ve been able to take advantage of. And working with other companies hasn’t been working out as spectacularly as it could. So the idea of actually becoming a publisher and merging Bethesda and Zenimax on there [is ideal.] It would be hard to imagine a more complementary relationship. They are triple A, top-of-the-line in what they do in the RPGs. And they have no overlap with all the things we do in the FPSes.”

Hollenshead said ZeniMax’s acquisition will allow id to grow its internal teams, staffing up the groups working on the next Doom — which will now be a ZeniMax game — and the Quake Live team, for starters.

The goal, explained Carmack, is for id to handle all of its own IPs. “We can build the pipeline and have a regular pipeline of releases.”

Altman described the deal as a “win for fans of id.” He said the deal came about when Hollenshead approached him. ZeniMax had been looking to acquire developers and wanted id, but didn’t know it was available until approached. The merger had been in the works for months, according to the men on the call today.

In a press release for today’s news, Altman laid out a vision for a robust id: “We, along with many others, consider id Software to be among the finest game studios in the world, with extraordinary design, artistic and technical capabilities. They have demonstrated, repeatedly, that rare ability to create franchise properties that are critical and commercial successes. Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best – make AAA games. Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand.”

No co-developed games are planned at this time. But, they joked, getting those Fallout bobbleheads into Rage would be fun.

38 Studios has purchased Big Huge Games from THQ, adding a huge chunk of quality real-time strategy and role-playing talent to their roster and saving the developer from imminent closure. In March of this year, previous owner THQ threatened to close the studio following losses of $US191.8 million in the previous financial quarter. Then came the layoffs. With the purchase, 38 Studios acquires all of Big Huge’s intellectual property, development tools, and works in progress, including RPG legend Ken Rolston’s upcoming role-playing game.

“It’s always about team,” said 38 Studios Founder and Chairman Curt Schilling. “The highly regarded developers at BHG, including leading role-playing and real-time strategy design teams led by Ken Rolston, are a perfect complement to 38 Studios’ staggering array of talent. Big Huge Games is a phenomenal team and, culturally, a natural fit.”

Big Huge Games will be integrated into 38 Studios, but will continue to operate out of Timonium, Maryland.

Having been eagerly awaiting Ken Rolston’s RPG project since it was first announced in 2007, this is welcome news indeed. A feel-good story in a time of industry turmoil. Besides, how often does a star starting pitcher manage to get the save?

The “stalking horse” asset purchase agreement with Warner Bros. Entertainment would include rights to Mortal Kombat and Midway’s studios in Chicago and Seattle. The agreement would not include the studio in San Diego, Newcastle or the TNA franchise.

The purchase price would be $US33 million, subject to adjustment, plus the agreed value of Midway’s U.S. account receivables.

Prior to finalising the deal, there will be a court-supervised auction process to handle any possible competing bids. That process, if approved by the court, would give other companies 30 days to make a bid, with the auction happening a few days after the bidding stops.

Hoping to beefed up its business resume, Distribution Partners is handling all Namco Bandai releases in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Last March, Namco Bandai picked up a 34 percent stake in Atari Europe and is expected to acquire the remaining 66 percent from Atari parent Infogrames.

“We believe that DP will become a wholly-owned Namco Bandai games company soon,” said Atari’s European marketing head David Miller, “but this process requires time and we will comment further when we have an anticipated closing date.”

Atari in America is still alive and plans to become an online-centric content producer. Even though Atari Europe is no more, Atari will have a UK branch in the UK with a London studio opened last September and headed up by former SingStar director Paulina Bozek.

Distribution Partners will be handling Atari title Ghostbusters on non-PS3 formats in regions outside the US.

Goodbye Atari, hello Namco [MCVUK]

BigPark was formed in 2007 by a group of industry veterans formerly of Distinctive Software and Electronic Arts Canada. One of the founders was Don Mattrick, who went on to become the senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, so they might as well go ahead and collect the whole set. The team is currently working on an exclusive Xbox 360 game, and will continue working on said exclusive Xbox 360 game… just a bit more exclusively now.

“We are delighted by the opportunity to welcome the BigPark team into Microsoft Game Studios,” said Phil Spencer, general manager, Microsoft Game Studios. “The team is composed of some of the most experienced and creative minds working in the industry today. The combination of the BigPark and Microsoft Game Studios talent pools will be an accelerant for growth and innovation. We believe BigPark has tremendous potential to create new properties and innovative gaming experiences for our platforms, one of which we’re looking forward to showcasing at the E3 Expo in June.”

BigPark CEO and co-founder Hanno Lemke will report directly to Spencer as the company continues to develop whatever it is they are developing. The answers to these questions and more will be revealed at E3 2009. Just consider this a pre-show preparatory purchase.