Microsoft’s Massive in-game ad business takes hits among 3,000 overall layoffs
[updated with new Microsoft comment] Microsoft announced a new round of layoffs today as it struggles to right itself after reporting tepid results last month. We’ve learned that Massive, the company’s in-game advertising business, suffered 28 percent like 75 percent layoffs.
Microsoft declined to comment yesterday on the Massive layoffs but offered a correction today, saying the layoffs were not as high as we thought.
Today’s cuts amounted to more than 3,000 jobs and are part of… Continue Reading
THQ signs up Massive for in-game advertising
As game publishers look for more ways to pull in revenues, in-game advertising is catching on. Today, game publisher THQ is announcing that Microsoft’s Massive division will become the exclusive provider of in-game ads for THQ’s Xbox 360 and PC games.
The multi-year, multi-game deal means that Massive has landed a big account and that its business proposition is looking better for publishers under economic pressure. THQ has had a tough year and has had to… Continue Reading
NeoEdge Networks introduces way to splice ads into the middle of the action
Most casual game ads are predictable. They run a 30-second video in between levels in a game, or roll the video after you’ve finished. But NeoEdge Networks has introduced a way to make those the placement of ads much more flexible — and possibly quite annoying to gamers.
NeoEdge Networks allows game companies to insert ads into their downloadable PC games and it finds advertisers who want to put ads into those games. Today, it is… Continue Reading
Google launches in-game advertising for Flash web games
After months of testing, Google is publicly launching the beta version of its AdSense for Games software. The product represents the company’s first push into a fast-growing new market — the ability to insert ads into games, either as they are being played or just after they finish.
The plan is pretty much what I reported in July, when word surfaced that the search giant was testing the ads. Its decision to enter the market with… Continue Reading
Google testing “AdSense for Games” in bid to shake up in-game advertising
Google is the sleeping giant when it comes to advertising in video games. While the company dominates search advertising, it has yet to make a big splash in video games. That could change soon, as the company has been quietly testing its “AdSense for Games” product for months.
Sources close to the matter said that the company has developed an in-game advertising technology that allows it to insert video ads into games. In demos of the… Continue Reading
Sony picks Double Fusion for in-game ads on PlayStation 3
Double Fusion will provide the technology for inserting ads into games for Sony’s PlayStation 3. The deal, coupled with its announcement today to do in-game ads for Yahoo Games, is an important victory for Double Fusion and the fledgling in-game ad industry.
Both Sony’s U.S. and European game divisions will use Double Fusion to insert ads into Sony’s games for the PS 3 game console. Beyond supplying the technology to either insert ads into games or… Continue Reading
Yahoo Games shifts to free games in alliance with two game ad start-ups
Yahoo Games is the giant of online game portals with 18 million unique visitors a month. But the company is shaking things up as it announces today that it is shifting to a new business model based on free ad-supported games for many of its pay-only titles.
Kyle Laughlin, head of games at Yahoo, said in an interview that the new model will help broaden the market for games to price-conscious consumers. It is able to… Continue Reading
Double Fusion raises $26M for in-game advertising
San Francisco’s Double Fusion, which offers a way to for advertisers to place advertisers in games, told VentureBeat this morning that it has raised $26 million in a financing round led by Norwest Venture Partners.
Existing investors Accel Partners and Jerusalem Venture Partners joined in the round, along with strategic investors Time Warner, Hearst Corporation, IDG Ventures Pacific and Sedona Capital (Japan), the company said.
The company was founded in 2004, and offers access to… Continue Reading