Disney purchases Playdom for $563.2 million

Deal includes $563.2 million up-front payment and a $200 million earn-out

Disney, continuing its energetic and assertive push into social gaming, has agreed to pay $563.2 million up-front for Playdom, developer of some of the most popular games on MySpace and Facebook.

If Playdom meets certain performance milestones, the company's owners could receive an additional $200 million. Playdom CEO John Pleasants will become an executive vice president of the Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG) and general manager of Playdom.

The latest acquisition is just one in a series, as Disney continues to secure itself as a leader in the mobile and online gaming industry.

Earlier this month, Disney snapped up Tapulous, developer of incredibly popular iPhone and iPad games like Tap Tap Revenge.

“I want to be bold and aggressive,” said Bob Iger, president and CEO of Disney. “You don’t get the kind of growth that we want by building from the inside.”

Iger said more acquisitions are on the way, without naming names.

Since its founding in early 2008 by Dan Yue and Ling Xiao, Playdom had raised $76 million in financial backing from a respectable list of venture capital firms, including Disney's own Steamboat Ventures, which contributed to the startup's $33 million Series A second closing in June.

With popular titles like Social City, Sorority Life, Market Street and Bola on Facebook and MySpace, Playdom sees an estimated 42 million active players each month.

The game company will maintain its headquarters in Mountain View, CA.