Google buys in-game advertising company Adscape

16 February 2007 17:23 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Google, having spread its sphere of influence beyond internet advertising into radio marketing, is now dipping its toe into the gaming ad market with the acquisition of Adscape.

The company has paid $23 million for the company, which has developed the technology to allow advertisers to place ads within games.

The deal has been rumoured for some time, and is the obvious next step for Google, as the video game ad market is forecast to grow five times larger than its current $100m current worth.

Some analysts say that the acquisition gives Google little more than a few patents as well as access to the company's contacts.

When Google does start rolling out the in-game advertising system, it will likely make it much easier to purchase the ads than it is currently.

The company may have felt pressure building to do something about it's role in this potentially-lucrative market after Microsoft recently purchased another in-game ad company called Massive.

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Biz, Mergers, Google, Gaming industry, NASA, Zune, Censorship, iPod, Gaming