juegos - games: Electronic Arts will acquire closely held Playfish, which makes games for Facebook

Electronic Arts will acquire closely held Playfish, which makes games for Facebook, for at least $300 million, signaling an attempt by the world's second-largest videogame publisher to benefit from the growing social-networking industry.

EA will pay $275 million in cash and $25 million in so-called equity-retention agreements for London-based Playfish, which will become part of EA Interactive, the publisher said in a statement today. EA might pay as much an additional $100 million if certain performance milestones are met by the end of 2011.

“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 VP and general manager of EA Interactive.

The company will report fiscal second-quarter earnings later today.

Playfish, whose 10 titles include Pet Society and Restaurant City, has more than 60 million active users playing more than 1 billion sessions every month. The company also has published games for MySpace and Bebo as well as for Apple's iPhone.

Studios have been adding Facebook access to a number of Blu-ray Disc titles, including Warner Home Video's Watchmen.

Facebook in September attracted 31.2 million users, up 29% from 24.2 million users in August, according to ComScore.