Billions of Game Sessions Played, Hundreds of Marriages, Several
Lives Saved
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sep 30, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that Pogo.com(TM)
is celebrating ten years as a top online casual game destination for
millions of game fans around the world. Pogo.com launched in 1999 as a
start up and has grown from a small offering of games with dozens of
players to a global destination offering hundreds of games to millions
of users in the North America, France, Germany and the United Kingdom
making it one of the most trafficked sites on the web, and #1 in
stickiness (average minutes/visitor) amongst the top 10 online
properties*. In the past four years alone, Pogo.com players have logged
more than 6 billion hours and 8 billion game sessions on the popular
site.
Pogo.com has been on the forward edge of innovation in the casual online
game market over the past decade. Highlights include the introduction
of: chat during game sessions (2000), paid subscription with Club Pogo(TM)
(2003), Pogo Minis (avatars) (2005), Pogo Micro-transactions (Pogo
Gems(TM)) (2006), Pogo in France and Germany (2008), and a newly designed
free Pogo.com home page, scheduled to debut in October 2009.
"Whether you just have five minutes for a quick game break to escape
from your busy day or a couple of hours to be immersed in Pogo's rich
community gaming experience, we are so proud that Pogo.com has been a
pioneer in bringing online fun to millions of users worldwide for the
last decade," said Michael Marchetti, Senior Vice President, General
Manager of Pogo.com and Social Games.
Pogo.com games, such as Poppit!(TM), Word Whomp(TM) and First-Class
Solitaire, have remained enduring favorites over the past ten years
and continue to be the most played among the site's more than 100 free
online games. The number and variety of fun and challenging games in
categories such as puzzle, word, card, board, casino, arcade, and sports
have proven to be key drivers in the site's popularity boosted by the
excitement of social interaction, earning tokens, and the chance to win
big prizes. Prize rules can be found at http://www.pogo.com/prize/rules.do.
The vibrant online community is also a major component of Pogo.com. Over
the years, the fan base has extended beyond its online borders
propelling more than 2,600 players to arrange face-to-face meetings
resulting in meaningful friendships, exciting courtships and in the case
of 250 lucky individuals -- marriage! Pogo.com kinship even saved a life
this summer when a chimney collapsed on a woman who happened to be
playing Canasta at the time. She asked for help in Pogo.com chat
and another player in the same game room two states away, dialed for
emergency assistance.
"Having been there since day one, it is amazing to reflect on the past
ten years of Pogo.com," said Mike Riccio, VP and Chief Technology
Officer of Pogo.com, Mobile and Social Games. "The site was an early
participant and innovator and has significantly contributed to the
growth and popularity of online casual gaming."
In the spirit of their ten year anniversary, Pogo.com did one of the
things is does best - bring people together. They hosted an online
"birthday party" to break Pogo.com's Peak Simultaneous Usage (PSU)
record for Poppit!,a beloved Pogo game. The record was
successfully broken with 181,000 players logging on simultaneously to
celebrate Pogo.com while furiously popping balloons and catching up with
friends.
* According to comScore August 09
About Pogo.com
Pogo.com(TM) is the #1 stickiest online destination in the US (1). The site
is home to over 15.3 million unique visitors a month (worldwide) who
play for more than 62 minutes a day (1). Boasting a wide variety of more
than 100 free online games including puzzle games, word games, casino
games, classic card games and board
games, Pogo.com features both single-player and multiplayer games.
The site offers players an easy-to-use chat feature where millions of
people talk about their favorite games, best scores, or simply share
stories about their lives. Pogo.com is known for its thriving online
community of players who forge life-long friendships through the site.
Pogo has local sites and communities in UK (pogo.co.uk) and Germany
(pogo.de). The Pogo.com premium service, Club Pogo, offers players a
variety of VIP features including exclusive games, no ad interruptions,
private chat and avatars. Club Pogo had over 1.75 million paying
subscribers at the end of August 2009.
(1) According to comScore (avg. minutes per usage day, worldwide,
August 2009)
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is
a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in
1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive
software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless
devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under
four brand names: EATM, EA SPORTSTM, EA MobileTM
and POGOTM. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of
$4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies.
EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com.
More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can
be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile, Pogo, Pogo.com, Club Pogo, Poppit! and Word
Whomp are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in
the U.S. and/or other countries.
SOURCE: Electronic Arts, Inc.
EA
Honey Hamilton, 650-628-9045 (Pogo.com)
hhamilton@ea.com
Alexis Mervin, 650-628-7703 (Hasbro)
amervin@ea.com
Copyright Business Wire 2009