Power On Games

Plants vs Zombies hit the Xbox Live Arcade this week, but platform-holder Microsoft once tried to own the makers of the tower defense game. Develop reports that developer PopCap once rejected a $5 million acquisition offer from the Microsoft, and that it still receives investment and acquisition offers on a regular basis.

"We had a couple of funny instances in the early years of PopCap where we were talking to Microsoft about a possible acquisition," said creative director Jason Kapalka. "I think it was in 2002 - and they sat us down and gave us this long speech about why our company was worth five million dollars, at a time when we had four million in the bank. We didn't know much about stock prices and business valuations at the time, but it really didn't sound like a very good deal even then."

Since then, PopCap has become a bona fide hit factory, and its value for investors has risen steadily. Kapalka recalls in 2004, an offer of $100 million was on the table, but that deal fell through "for other reasons." He says that not a month goes by without investment or acquisition offers, but "so far nothing has worked out."