This new entity within Atom Entertainment, will develop exclusive content for the diverse Shockwave.com audience and work directly with advertisers to develop custom branded games both in-house and through the Shockwave.com extensive network of independent game developers.
"Today we're entering a new era in online gaming by redesigning the site to appeal to the wide demographic base of casual gamers and offering advertisers a breadth of choices to reach our growing audience of 25 million casual game enthusiasts," said Dave Williams, CMO of Atom Entertainment. "We've made the site more appealing for game players, and more flexible for advertisers who are trying to reach this audience in innovative ways."
Atom Entertainment is also introducing a premium games service, Shockwave.com Unlimited as part of the redesigned site -- an expansion of the successful GameBlast(SM) concept. For a cost of as little as $4.95/month, Shockwave.com users can have unlimited, ad-free access to hundreds of online and downloadable games in the Shockwave.com library, with no limits on gameplay.
Through the Shockwave.com Games Studio, marketers now have access to a team of world class game producers and top developers who have already built some of the web's most popular advergames such as Redline Rumble. Developed for the Shockwave.com site in 2003, Redline Rumble has received more than 300 million gameplays and remains one of the Top 10 games on the site today. In addition, Atom Entertainment is introducing distribution and sponsorship opportunities for advergames that will drive hundreds of thousands of gameplays among game enthusiasts.
The new advertising opportunities follow the November introduction of the Shockwave In-Game Network, which offers advertisers the opportunity to insert their brands into some of the most popular titles on the Shockwave.com site. Key advertisers joined with Atom Entertainment to immerse their brands in Shockwave.com games because it offered the rare combination of powerful integrated advertising opportunities and a vast, engaged audience.
"We want to be the first stop for any advertiser who wants to reach the online games audience," said Williams. "We can deliver the audience, the gameplays, and the production and technical expertise for any major marketer who is interested in getting into online gaming."