Google is purchasing video game advertising company Adscape for $23 million, according to an article published by Reuters. The company competes with another in-game ad company, Massive, which was purchased by Microsoft last year for $200 million. Massive signed agreements with Ubisoft, THQ and Take-Two to place ads in their online games. “My take on this probable deal is that it doesn’t make a lot of difference to Google … but it does provide significant credibility to the game-marketing space,” Forrester Research analyst Shar VanBoskirk told Reuters.
“While Adscape is seeking deals with virtually all major publishers, its value is expected to be based largely on its team and its technology that places dynamic ads on billboards, or vending machines, that appear in videogames,” the Reuters article reads. According to the article, in-game ads only generated revenue of $80 million in 2005, but says that could grow to $605 million without mentioning a projected date. With big players like Google and Microsoft in game advertising, it is expected that video games may become a viable medium for advertising.
