Report: Google to advertise in games?

Google is close to launching in-game advertising through a project dubbed AdSense for Games. Venture Beat claims to have spoken to sources close to the matter who say that Google "has developed an in-game advertising technology that allows it to insert video ads into games."

Other companies such as Double Fusion, IGA Worldwide, MochiMedia, NeoEdge Networks and Microsoft-owned Massive Incorporated have been doing in-game advertising for some time already. According to US analyst firm The Yankee Group, the in-game ads market will increase to $971.3m by 2011.

Google acquired in-game advertising firm Adscape, founded in February 2006 by former Sega executives Chris Gilbert and Bernie Stolarer, for $23m in February 2007. Since then the company has been quiet. "I don't know what's taking them so long," one of the sources was quoted as saying. "They could move into this market very quickly, given what they have shown off."

According to Venture Beat, Stolar, now at Google, gave a speech about AdSense for Games in Seattle at the 2007 Casual Connect conference in which he said Google just wanted to do in-game ads rather than a push into game development.

Google UK could not be reached for comment at time of publication.