Adscape is a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

in-game advertising In-game advertising (IGA) is advertising in electronic games. IGA differs from advergames, which refers to games specifically made to advertise a product.Matthew Yi (2005-07-25). "Advertisers pay for video games - Product placement tradition no ...

company that was acquired by

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

on February 15, 2007, for US$23 million. Adscape was founded in 2002 by Dan Willis, a former

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...

engineer. Adscape was launched in February 2006 with $3.2 million in funding from HIG Ventures, a

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

company based in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The company offers services including delivering dynamic advertisements to video games. It has yet to form any partnerships with any game publishers as of its acquisition by Google. Google's acquisition of the company grants it Adscape's patents. Google commented on the acquisition by saying in a press release, "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." This acquisition was in part fueled by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

's purchase of in-game advertisement company

Massive Incorporated Massive Incorporated was an American advertising company that provided software and services to dynamically host advertisements within video games. Massive Incorporated was purchased by Microsoft in May 2006 for approximately $200 million to $400 ...

, which already has secured deals with game publishers including

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', ...

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...

, and

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...

, for $200 million in 2006. One expert commented on the acquisition, saying, “There is a whole world of difference between the form of advertising done by Google and Madison Avenue. ..While everyone appreciates the dollars Google can throw around, when it comes to n-game adexperience they just don’t have it.” Adscape moved from its offices in Atlanta to Google's headquarters in Mountain View,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, in March 2007. The company's leadership includes Dan Willis as Chief Technical Officer, Bernie Stolar as Chairman, and Eva Woo as vice president of marketing.

References

External links

Google has acquired Adscape Media
{{Google Ads navbox Google Video game companies of the United States Marketing companies established in 2006 Companies based in San Francisco Google acquisitions