The Yahoo! Games Studio has developed games that are available on Verizon Wireless and will be available shortly on other major U.S. mobile carriers, making Yahoo! Games the first Web-based games site in the U.S. to move into the mobile space. This initiative builds on Yahoo!’s strategy of extending core services beyond the desktop to offer the best possible “connected” experience for consumers.
“Casual games like dominoes and hearts are extremely popular in the emerging mobile entertainment market - they are just the right format for today’s mobile devices and the broad range of users who like to play them,” said Geoff Graber, general manager of Yahoo! Games. “As casual games continue to grow in popularity, our leadership in this area on the web allows us to readily extend our reach beyond the PC onto mobile phones.”
Further enhancing the mobile experience for consumers, Yahoo! has acquired Stadeon, Inc., whose flagship product, Carousel, enables multiplayer cross-device connectivity. Through the integration of Stadeon’s technology, Yahoo! Games’ users, playing on their mobile devices, will be able to play against the hundreds of thousands of people who are online at any time of the day or night on the Yahoo! Games website to play a game, such as Chess, Poker, Literati, or another of the entertaining mobile games that Yahoo! makes available in the upcoming months.
As part of the acquisition, founder and CEO of Stadeon, John Cahill, will now lead Yahoo!’s expanding mobile games business as part of his new role as director, games operations. He is also responsible for exploring new platforms beyond the PC, building the existing cross-platform multiplayer game business and evangelizing the technology/market opportunity.
In addition to bringing extensive insight to multiplayer, multi-device functionality, Cahill has more than 15 years of experience in business management, technical operations and software development with such companies as Shockwave.com, SegaSoft Networks, Inc., Trintech Group and Stadeon, Inc. His experience greatly benefits Yahoo! Games as the company enters into a new form of game creation and distribution.
“We are excited to bring Stadeon’s cross-platform games technology to Yahoo! Games,” said John Cahill, director of games operations and platforms for Yahoo! Games. “Yahoo! understands the value of its large community and now letting its consumers play against any one of the 345 million Yahoo! users worldwide, anywhere, anytime and whether they are on a mobile device or their PC.”
“With the resources of Yahoo! and the ability of Stadeon to enhance our platform integration capabilities, we are well-positioned to be a leader in the emerging category of mobile gaming,” said Graber. “We think this category has huge potential and are working hard to bring our users innovative opportunities like our new games that will take advantage of this new multiplayer, cross-platform technology.”
Yahoo! is focused on extending key services beyond the desktop to provide an integrated desktop-to-mobile experience for consumers and help them make the most of the mobile environment. As the number of mobile data users continues to grow rapidly, Yahoo! has rolled out mobile extensions of key services including Yahoo! Games, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Photos and Yahoo! Search across multiple carriers. Yahoo! continues to improve and innovate on its offerings for mobile consumers and works closely with carrier partners and device manufacturers around the world to deliver the best possible experience to consumers. For more information on the availability of services across carriers and devices go to http://mobile.yahoo.com.