It would appear that ESPN isn’t just content with talking about sports as they have recently struck a deal with Playdom to include social sports games on their website sometime later this year. Two are already in development and are slated for a release this fall.
“Our deal with Playdom marks ESPN’s first major presence into the social gaming space,” said Raphael Poplock, vice president, games and revenue strategy and development for ESPN Digital Media. “The sports genre for this category of games has gone virtually untapped thus far, and through this agreement, we have an opportunity to be in front of a highly engaged audience and at the forefront of what is currently the fastest growing games category out there.”
"While new brands have been created in the social gaming category, we, at Playdom, believe working with existing intellectual property will become increasingly important over time and are pleased to be incorporating ESPN's brand and vast library of content into several new social games that are in development,” said John Pleasants, CEO, Playdom.
ESPN plans on expanding their market into social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, with the possibility of mobile gaming being available also. ESPN has had moderate success with their Flash-based games at the ESPN arcade, but this represents a major transition towards heavier involvement in the social gaming sector.
This is good news for Playdom, who recently acquired Merscom in order to focus on content such as this with the recent $43 million gained on investment.
