PopCap, the mastermind behind the hugely addictive Plants vs Zombies and Bejeweled is set to be bought for in excess of $1 billion. 

Current rumours point to Electronic Arts as the buyer. Zynga had allegedly been involved in the deal but as TechCrunch's sources pointed out, they couldn't quite face the price that was being asked. With revenues of between $100 - $150 million this puts the asking price at more than ten times what the company makes. 

The deal would be a pretty serious bet for EA's current bank balance but could mean a massive increase in their app market position.

The company has previously made risky acquisitions in emerging gaming markets. Their purchase of London based social gaming studio Playfish in 2009 entered them into the Facebook games landscape in a pretty significant way. The purchase would also bolster EA Play, the casual gaming centric wing of the company. 

Jennifer Kye, a PopCap community rep following the TechCrunch story tweeted "Sorry, I might not have been clear. I was simply stating that @TechCrunch's article is not true," This has since been deleted from her feed.

We've contacted EA to see what they've got to say about all this, so we'll await their reply.

PopCap purchase a good idea? Let us know in the comments section below...