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EA Buys Napster Creator's Social Networking Firm

Jun 04, 2008 12:17am CST tags: Electronic Arts, Social Networking
In what is quite possibly the briefest announcement to ever come out of Electronic Arts, the publisher today revealed its purchase of the game-oriented social networking company ThreeSF for an undisclosed sum.

Founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning, ThreeSF's first project was Rupture, a site that allows users to track achievements earned in Xbox 360 games as well as coordinate World of Warcraft (PC) activity. While terms of the deal were not provided, earlier rumors suggested a $30 million price tag and that Fanning would join EA.

The acquisition marks the latest community-oriented move for EA, which has made multiple efforts to build and strengthen its game-related communities through in-game features and websites, as demonstrated by the video sharing aspect of EA Black Box's Skate (PS3, X360).

The whole of EA's extremely brief announcement follows:

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced it has acquired ThreeSF, Inc., a social network for gamers. Financial terms were not disclosed. More information about EA's plans for ThreeSF will be available in the weeks ahead.

Rumor: EA Spends $30M on Social Networking Tech, Napster Founder to Join EA

May 12, 2008 4:27pm CST tags: Electronic Arts, Social Networking, Rumor
Mega-publisher Electronic Arts is about to buy game-oriented social networking site Rupture for $30 million, according to an unconfirmed TechCrunch report.

Citing "sources with knowledge of the deal," the site claims EA is primarily interested in the technology behind the startup. Creator Shawn Fanning, who founded Napster, and partner Jon Baudanza are said to become EA employees under the agreement.

While EA has yet to comment on the rumors, the company has made several efforts towards building and strengthening online game-related communities, such the ability to upload and share in-game videos from EA Black Box's Skate (PS3, X360) via the title's website.