Google files secretive gaming patents

"We now have hard evidence that Google has an eye on video games"

4 October 2007 16:26 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

MCV is claiming that it has gained full access to "hidden" technology patents that show Google is planning to expand and become a "major player in the video games industry".

The search engine company has apparently filed seven patents that relate to in-game advertising and interactive entertainment, including a "method and system for enhancing video games and video games systems".

The patents were uncovered by research and consultancy firm Evalueserve, who discovered that 84% of Google's "Web 2.0-related" patents filed in the US did not have the firm's name attached to them, allowing them to go previously undiscovered.

Evalueserve’s vice president of IP research Navtej Saluja said: "It seems they wanted to make these patents difficult to find. Google is always trying to expand its revenue model. This fits with that, because it’s supporting newer media. We now have hard evidence that Google has an eye on video games".

Google commented: "We file patent applications on a variety of ideas. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't".

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