The Game’s the Thing at MTV Networks:
No Old Media company has placed a more far-reaching bet on gaming. MTVN operates more than 5,000 mobile, console, and online games and virtual worlds — many of them based on TV shows such as MTV’s The Real World and Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants. MTVN has even cut a deal to develop new titles with Hollywood über-producer Jerry Bruckheimer of CSI and Armaggedon fame. And this isn’t just about kids. The network is keen to hook the growing ranks of so-called casual gamers, including women old enough to have a couple of teenagers in the house.The appeal of games is simple enough. They are addictive — like “digital crack,” says Jeffrey Yapp, an MTVN executive charged with developing new digital ventures. How addictive? Total time spent gaming online hit 11.4 billion minutes in December, up 27% over the previous year, according to Web-traffic tracker comScore. Only e-mail and shopping keep people online longer nowadays. “Of the traffic to our more than 300 Web sites,” says Mika Salmi, MTVN’s top digital executive, “we know nearly half [of the visitors] have played a game.”
MTVN started to ratchet up its game strategy three years ago with a series of acquisitions. The company has plowed $800 million into properties that appeal to a range of ages, from Neopets, a virtual world where kids create their own cartoon critters, to Harmonix Music Systems, which created the all-ages Rock Band, MTVN’s rival to the ultra-popular Guitar Hero. The network plans to spend an additional $500 million over the next couple of years buying new titles or building them from scratch.