Fanning's payday: $30 million from Electronic Arts

Computer programmer Shawn Fanning, known for having created the original Napster, has sold his latest company ThreeSF to game maker EA.

ThreeSF controls Rupture, which is essentially a social-networking system for gamers that publishes profiles to a central space, serving as a means of communication between World of Warcraft players.

Rumors that ThreeSF had been sold first surfaced in early May, although were not confirmed at the time. Either way, details are scant: EA said it would release further details of how ThreeSF would fit into the company's strategy "in the weeks ahead."

Financial terms of the deal were officially not disclosed by EA, though an unnamed source told the Los Angeles Times that some $30 million is expected to change hands.

Analysts say that the buy does make sense for EA. While the publisher is well known for its work in the sports game segment, it is significantly behind its rivals in other areas, including in the so-called massively multi-player online role-playing (MMORPG) market.

New CEO John Riccitiello has made it a central effort of his initial work at the company to improve its standing in the genres it had previously ignored. He has indicated that EA would make strategic acquisitions to meet that goal.

No doubt the name "ThreeSF" is a reference to Fanning's third effort at building a successful company. Number one was Napster in 1998, which saw its demise -- at least in its original form -- in 2002.

He tried again in 2003 with Snocap, which was essentially Napster with legal controls, but that never exactly took off, and it was acquired by imeem last April for an undisclosed sum. Experts speculate that sum was probably pretty low -- maybe less than $5 million.