MTV to Invest $500 Million In Games
MTV Networks announced plans to invest over $500 million in video games over two-years as part of a global strategy to incorporate games development at the inception of all new programming plans.
MTV has seen early success with properties such as Xfire, GameTrailers, Neopets.com and Nicktropolis — traffic to AddictingGames.com surged 84% in July, offering casual games such as dressing up a cartoon Paris Hilton in jail. Neopets generates revenue from sales of items for virtual pets.
The upcoming game “Rock Band” lets up to 4 players play guitar, bang the drums or sing karaoke to modern and classic rock songs together; and will hit stores in the fall for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 console game systems. The game is viewed as MTV’s most ambitious bet; and MTVN is looking at ways to integrate “Rock Band” with its traditional cable networks and Web properties.
MTVN has also signed deals with Verizon Wireless and Nokia for cell-phone games.
MTV Networks saw 42 million unique visitors to its game-related Web site in June, up 20% since January. 47% of MTV audience played games, compared with 27% of average Web users.
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