Electronic Arts to slash 1,500 jobs and buy Playfish
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The video game publisher, hammered by a steep drop in the sale of traditional packaged games, plans to acquire the online game developer in a deal valued at up to $400 million.
With 125 employees, Playfish has focused on a lean operation with 10 titles played on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. The games attract about 60 million users who play them at least once a month, said Kristian Segerstrale, co-founder of Playfish. Its most popular title, Pet Society, has 21 million monthly players. The games are free to play but make money by selling ads or charging for extra features.
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