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
GamesBeat 09: More great speakers lined up
As the March 24 GamesBeat 2009 games conference draws near, we’re unveiling a new list of speakers. We’re proud to say that some of the biggest names in the gaming world are joining us for the program. Tickets are still available.
Chris Taylor (right), founder of Gas Powered Games, will share the stage with me as co-emcee of the event. We picked Taylor because he has been an advocate for creativity in games and because he’s one… Continue Reading
Mochi Media names new chief executive to spur further growth
Mochi Media is announcing today that it has named a new chief executive, George Garrick, who will take over the Flash game advertising company from founder Jameson Hsu.
Hsu will remain at the San Francisco company as its evangelist and product overseer under the title “chief Mochi.” Hsu will continue to talk with game developers, publishers and advertisers about collaboration with Mochi Media.
Garrick has a background in online advertising as the former CEO of Flycast Communications,… 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
Mochi Media launches game-plus-ad network for web publishers
Mochi Media, the San Francisco company that offers ads that run in online casual games, and analytics services that look at game performance, is coming out with a new service. It has packaged its ads and analytics services together with its catalog of white-label games it syndicates, creating a way for web site publishers to both engage users through games and make money from that engagement.
Partners that are using the service include virtual world Gaia… Continue Reading
Yahoo engineer Eric Boyd hired by gaming ad company Mochi Media
Mochi Media, an online ad and analytics company that helps online game developers run ads within their works, has hired a new vice president of engineering away from Yahoo. It’s Eric Boyd, a Yahoo employee of ten years and a former member of the notorious card shark outfit at MIT, which the movie 21 is based on. (He’s pictured, middle, with his comrades at the movie’s premier.)
Boyd has worked as an engineer and product manager on… Continue Reading
Mochi Media, an ad startup that helps to redefine casual gaming, growing strongly
Mochi Media is helping to define the future of casual gaming on the web — not through new games, but by showing how games can be monetized and distributed across the Web. The company says it’s seeing 30 percent growth a month, and just today it added on massively multiplayer online (MMO) game portal Aeria as a partner.
What Mochi Media offers is two closely connected tools used by game developers. MochiAds is Mochi’s advertising platform,… Continue Reading
Accel invests in Mochi Media, casual game ad network
Accel Partners has invested an undisclosed amount into Mochi Media, a San Francisco-based gaming ad network (focused on casual games) and flash analytics company co-founded by Jameson Hsu and Bob Ippolito, according to GigaOm.
Accel’s Ping Li led the investment.
IGA raises $25 million to capture future in-game ad market
IGA Worldwide, a New York-based provider of advertising that appears within video games, has raised $25 million from a collection of venture capital, private equity and large media firms.
The potential market for in-game advertising is big, even as some analysts trying to measure it are prone to hype. It made only $55 million last year, but is expected to pass $800 million in 2012 with total video game ad spending reaching $2 billion that year,… Continue Reading