Massive's In-Game Network Gets Casual

In-game ad network Massive will start selling inventory in casual games through a deal with game and “advergame” developer Skyworks.

The move marks a departure for Massive, which has so far concentrated on the retail gaming market and its audience of young, hardcore players, most of them men. The company’s expansion into casual games means enabling advertisers to target a broader audience that includes children and older adults, including women.

“We have 30 of the top 50 advertisers. This opens us up to the other 20,” said Nicholas Longano, Massive’s CMO. “Really, you’re talking about… consumer goods companies that can target a much broader [audience].”

The agreement is also something of a shift for Skyworks, which until now has offered branded games but no network model for the placement of ads. Skyworks declined to say how many titles it would make available to Massive’s network, nor would it estimate the volume of ad impressions the deal might entail.

“Right now, we’re doing the technology work, establishing a distribution model, talking to advertisers,” said Skyworks CEO Garry Kitchen. “It’s a real opportunity to bring the Massive model into the casual game space. We’re expanding the potential audience of their advertisers to adult men, adult women, kids.”

The companies will work together in the coming weeks and months to select and enable a handful of Skyworks’ catalog of 100 games for inclusion in the Massive network. They offered no precise timeline for serving campaigns on those titles, but said it would most likely happen in Q4. Skyworks develops games for both 2D and 3D play environments.