Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 13, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Entertainment group MTV Networks (MTVN) is shifting its business increasingly towards gaming. According to pressetext, the company is currently investing enormous sums in expanding its online video-game segment and trying to make up for missed opportunities relative to social-networking platforms in this area. As BusinessWeek reports, MTVN primarily wants to benefit from the great advertising potential of online games. Only in December, the entertainment group announced that in future it intended to develop completely independent video games together with US producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
MTVN now operates more than 5,000 different mobile, console and online games, as well as a host of virtual worlds based on successful TV shows such as ‘The real World’ and SpongeBob SquarePants. Through partnerships such as the one with Bruckheimer, the company intends to reach not only children but above all the growing number of casual gamers. The subject of mass-market computer games is currently on everyone’s lips and occupies development studios and console manufacturers alike. ‘With the introduction of EyeToy Play in 2004, Sony set the ball rolling. The simplified game control through body movement, transmitted with the help of the EyeToy camera, appealed to a completely new target group,’ Marlies Frey, press spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), tells pressetext. The concept of social gaming had reached the video-game sector. ‘With SingStar in 2005 and Buzz! at the end of 2006, we created a great portfolio of social or casual games,’ Frey adds.
According to comScore surveys, playing times in the online-games sector rose by 27 percent last year. More time is spent only on email and internet shopping. MTVN began aligning its business strategy with this trend three years ago. This included the acquisition of Harmonix, developer of the popular video game Guitar Hero, for around 175 million dollars. In the coming years, MTV Networks intends to invest another 500 million dollars in the games sector.
The entertainment giant does not provide official figures for advertising revenue generated with the help of games. According to its own information, however, MTVN has already signed dozens of advertising partners for its games in virtual worlds. Product placement, which had previously been common in MTV television programmes, is now also finding its way into online offerings. Alongside its main source of income, advertising, the company also wants to make money by selling virtual and real products launched to accompany the online worlds and games.
Further information:
- MTV Networks
