Google has acquired Adscape

Today Google confirmed that indeed it has acquired Adscape Media. As posted by Bernie Stolar on the Google Blog:

… we are so stoked to join Google — because these guys get it, and are committed to helping us continue our mission. [Source]

A FAQ has been posted, but doesn’t offer financial details.

But, there are two interesting items:

Q. Do you already have deals signed with game developers?

A. We have been in discussions with many in the game development community and hope to partner with both large and small game publishing companies.

… This seems to be a step backwards from June 6, 2006 when CEO Chris Gilbert claimed “though we have several deals signed, we can’t discuss them publicly until they are formally announced.” [Source] — Note how “deals signed” has turned into “discussions with”. I’m not going to keep holding my breath.

Also, this caught my eye:

Q. Given the dramatic growth of the gaming market in recent years, how much advertising market share does Google hope to gain from this acquisition, both immediately and over time?

A. We don’t release specific projections but we think there is great value in video game advertising. As more and more people spend time playing video games, we think we can create opportunities for advertisers to reach their target audiences while maintaining a high quality, engaging user experience. That said, we will test ways of successfully implementing this form of advertising and Infinity’s technology will be instrumental in those tests.

Q. Where does Google see in-game advertising going in the future, in terms of both revenue and the technology itself?

[exact same answer as above] …

… What is this “Infinity” technology? Is this an internal codename for Adscape? I don’t know of any announced Google technology or in-game advertiser named Infinity. Anybody know if this is more than just a simple mistake?

My previous posts about Google:

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