NeoEdge launches widget system for linking to casual games

NeoEdge, a casual-games-based ad network company whose chairman is Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, launched on Wednesday a system designed to make it easy for Web sites to add a widget that links to its library of games.

The company, which previously built a system that "wraps" ads around casual games like Diner Dash, is now attempting to leverage the huge popularity of such titles by making it simple for any Web site to use its widget and become a front end to its more than 400 games.

Casual games--which can be played in a short period of time and which attract more older users than do core games--often cost $10 or so to play and can bring large revenue streams to sites that host them.

Ty Levine, NeoEdge's vice president of marketing, called the widget a "simple turnkey" for any publisher on the Web to add a casual game channel or link to the NeoEdge library.

There are more than 90 million adults playing casual games today, Levine asserted.

Levine added that Web site owners are free to find ad sponsorships for the widgets they put on their sites and to keep all the revenue from any such deals. Or site owners can adopt a pay-per-download model and share revenue with NeoEdge.

And while NeoEdge could end up with no revenue coming directly from sites' usage of its widget, it's clear that it wins if sites--either large portal sites, small blogs, or social networking services like its launch customer, PerfSpot--drive traffic to its casual-games library.

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