Playfish
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Video games, social network service |
| Fate | All games retired |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Kristian Segerstrale Sebastien de Halleux Sami Lababidi Shukri Shammas |
| Defunct | 2013 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Owner | Electronic Arts |
| Parent | Electronic Arts |
| Website | playfish.com |
Playfish, currently a property of Electronic Arts, was a developer of free-to-play social network games. Playfish was founded in 2007 by Kristian Segerstråle, Sebastien de Halleux, Sami Lababidi and Shukri Shammas. It closed in 2013. Playfish in the past had attracted up to 55 million users a month, with over 37 million users coming from Facebook users. In October 2008, they secured US$17 million in venture capital funding from Accel Partners and Index Ventures.
Who has the Biggest Brain? was the company's first release. It was one of the first Facebook games to attract millions of daily players, and allowed the company to raise the funding necessary to produce other games. The company made money by selling virtual goods inside its games.
On Monday, November 9, 2009, Electronic Arts announced their acquisition of Playfish for $400 million. The acquisition was initially for $275 million cash and $25 million in equity—with a further $100 million in performance-based bonuses available if the company hits targets set by EA executives. As of February 2013, all four of the original founders have left the company, with Lababidi and Shammas setting up educational developer Mindshapes, and Segerstråle returning to the world of startups.
On June 14, 2013, all of the Playfish-developed games have been retired while Madden NFL 13 Social was retired on September 2, 2013 and can no longer be played on Facebook. The last 3 games to be retired (Pet Society, The Sims Social, and SimCity Social) were retired on June 17, 2013.
In Restaurant City, players own a restaurant in a set environment. The goal is to run an exceedingly popular restaurant and increase in restaurant level and dish quality. A restaurant needs at least two employees to function; a chef and a waiter. Through popularity, a restaurant can attract more customers. As a restaurant attracts more customers, it needs more employees. A restaurant gains the ability to hire more employees as it rises in level. The restaurant also grows in size as it gains levels, and can serve drinks and grow certain ingredients in a garden. Restaurant City was retired on June 29, 2012.
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Wikipedia