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
NeoEdge Networks launches NeoMOM to measure product tastes
Among the major brand advertisers, relatively few grocery product advertisers have moved online to target female audiences. One reason is that there hasn’t been good data collected that tracks the tastes of women online.
That’s why NeoEdge Networks, which operates an ad network for in-game advertising for casual games, is launching its NeoMOM demographic measurement tool today. The company will survey users across its network and issue reports every month so that advertisers can learn things… 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
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
Mochi Media raises $10 million for Flash-based game ad and analytics platform
Mochi Media is making a name for itself, and it’s not just because of the Puzzle Farter game alone. That’s a cute game that appears in a lot of places on the web and Mochi Media makes sure that the game’s creators get paid when it gets played.
Mochi Media has created a lucrative ad and analytics platform for Adobe Flash-based online games. The San Francisco company now runs a network of online games that draws… Continue Reading
NeoEdge Networks launches casual game channel widgets
Major portal web sites get a lot of traffic, but sometimes the visitors don’t stay for long. Video games, on the other hand, are extremely sticky. NeoEdge Networks, a start-up whose chairman is Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, is making it easy to put the two together so that visitors can play games on the big web sites and thereby stay longer.
The Mountain View, Calif., company has a casual game ad network that has been feeding… Continue Reading