Business / Technology

Casual-gaming giant King Digital Entertainment disclosed during its earnings report today that it bought Seattle game studio Z2 in a deal that could be worth up to $150 million.

Z2 screenshot of Battle Nations.

Big Fish Games — one of Seattle’s largest independent game companies — has finally been sold.

Casual game giant Big Fish games reeled in more than $266 million last year, the company announced today.

Big Fish Games — one of Seattle’s leading game companies and larger tech employers — is undergoing a major restructuring, laying off 49 people at its headquarters and closing its European headquarters in Ireland, which had 89 employees.

RealNetworks is leaping into the competitive and lucrative world of online gambling, sort of.

PopCap Games is big in Japan, and getting bigger. The Seattle-based company today said it’s launching a mobile, social game service for the Japanese market. Called “Pop Tower,” a joint venture with Square Enix subsidiary Taito Corp. Pop Tower is part of an Asian blitz by the 10-year-old company, which first established the viability of the Seattle-centered…

If it weren’t overcast today, you might have seen a Big Fish on top of Mount Rainier. That would be Alexey Tugaenko, a developer of games for Seattle’s Big Fish Games. Tugaenko won a contest that Big Fish held for the best third-party game released on the site between July 2009 and March 2010. His Top…

So how much money do those low-priced, downloadable “casual” video games make? Some make a fortune, but most have sales of about $100,000, according to Jessica Tams, director of the Seattle-based Casual Games Association. Tams provided an overview today at the Login Conference, taking place at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront this week. One or two casual games a…

Seattle casual game giant Big Fish Games today announced a new European headquarters facility in Cork, Ireland, that will create up to 100 jobs. Big Fish’s overseas plans were disclosed in September, after the company opened a smaller office in Vancouver, B.C., and received $83 million in funding. The company now employs about 360 people,…