E-Commerce Blog

Game publishers have been inserting advertisements into video games almost since games were first developed. But what began as static in-game product placements such as billboards advertising a publisher’s upcoming title in the 1970s has become a much more sophisticated marketing tactic — and a potentially lucrative revenue stream. “The medium’s been growing for about six years now, and both Microsoft and Google have bought companies in this space — Massive and Adscape, respectively,” Andrew Frank, a Gartner Research analyst, told the E-Commerce Times.

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The New Online Gaming Ad Playbook

Can developing free software for mobile phones be a business? It can if you’re Illusion Labs, a fledgling company in the Swedish port city of Malm. Illusion Labs was started a year ago by Carl Loodberg and Andreas Alptun, who had worked together at another Swedish company called “TAT,” designing software for companies including Samsung and Nvidia. They set up their own company so they could concentrate on developing applications specifically for Apple’s iPhone.

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How to Make Money Off Free iPhone Games

Hope springs anew for the more than 500,000 “Scrabulous” fans mourning the demise of their beloved Facebook game. Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla have launched a “new” word game, “Wordscraper.” The new game, which bears a striking resemblance to its banned predecessor, made its Facebook debut as early as Tuesday — the same day “Scrabulous” was removed in the wake of a legal tussle with the makers of Scrabble. Thus far, however, only 3,569 users, a fraction of the half million daily players “Scrabulous” once drew, are playing the game.

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Quick Change Artists Resurrect Facebook’s ‘Scrabulous’ as ‘Wordscraper’

Facebookers hoping to get in on a game of Scrabulous on Tuesday were left disappointed. Instead of linking to the game, designed by brothers Rajat and Jayant Argarwalla for play on the Facebook social networking platform, players found the following message: “Scrabulous is disabled for U.S. and Canadian users until further notice. If you would like to stay informed about developments in this matter, please click here.” The message appears to indicate that that the reign of Scrabulous has come to an end.

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Facebook Scrubs Scrabulous

Online poker is becoming more and more popular in Germany. As a result, the country’s strict legal restrictions on gambling are under pressure, and Germany may soon have to open its protected markets to private online poker providers. Currently, private online poker operations violate the new German Interstate Lottery Treaty, in force since January 2008. According to the Lottery Treaty, gambling licenses are only granted to institutions or companies that are under control of the German Federal State.

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Skill or Chance? The Case for Online Poker in Germany