Maintains success in bringing the best casual games to consumers on a
variety of platforms
SEATTLE, July 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- From Casual Connect Seattle,
digital entertainment services company RealNetworks(R), Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK)
is showcasing the recent activities and successes of its Games Division,
including announcements that extend customer reach; provide new content on
the PC and across console, handheld and mobile platforms; and make public a
key milestone for its in-game advertising business. A pioneer in the casual
gaming industry, Real announced in May of this year its intention to
separate its global casual games business into an independent company and
distribute shares of the newly created games company to its shareholders,
providing the Games Division, RealGames, a new opportunity to flourish and
lead the industry.
"In addition to our continued work with partners like Hasbro and
Mattel, we've been hard at work developing fresh content and expanding onto
new platforms like the Nintendo Wii," said Harold Zeitz, chief operating
officer of RealNetworks' Games Division. "Every day, we're reaching new
players through our portals and growing distribution network, bringing
consumers new ways to play the fun games they love."
Extending Customer Reach
Through an exclusive, newly-announced partnership with Topics
Entertainment, the largest privately owned multimedia publishing company in
the U.S., packaged RealArcade(R) games will be distributed to retail stores
throughout North America. This new partnership will extend the popular
RealArcade brand to retail, with planned Fall 2008 releases including "UNO
Undercover(TM)," "Little Shop of Treasures," "Sally's Salon" and "Cate
West: The Vanishing Files."
This new, direct-to-consumer channel builds upon Real's expansive
global reach through its syndication and distribution network, which
includes partners like AOL, MSN and Lifetime. At Casual Connect in
Amsterdam (February 2008), Real announced an exclusive partnership with the
world's fastest growing casual games network, SPILL GROUP. Based in The
Netherlands, SPILL owns and operates 30 games portals throughout Europe,
Asia and North- and South America.
Delivering New Content Consumers Want
Real continues to bring new and award-winning games to the market, and
is highlighting two of its newest games at Casual Connect:
-- "UNO Undercover(TM)" - This casual game adaptation of America's
favorite card game was developed as part of Real and Mattel, Inc.'s
multi-year agreement, a partnership announced at last year's Casual
Connect Seattle. Mattel and Real have since been working together to
deliver some of Mattel's most recognizable games for downloadable PC
and online game play throughout the world on Real's extensive
distribution network.
-- "Little Shop - Road Trip" - In this fourth installment of the popular
"Little Shop" series, the seek-and-find genre hits the open road with
a full tank! Developed by Real's Seattle-based GameHouse(R) Studios,
the series has been a best-selling hidden object franchise throughout
Real's extensive network since the inaugural title "Little Shop of
Treasures" launched early in 2007.
-- To ease the wallet strain that could be brought on by a real road
trip, given current gas prices, Real will be giving away gas to
promote the new game release (see full release for details).
Both of these games are available now at http://www.RealArcade.com and
http://www.GameHouse.com.
In addition, Real is announcing a syndication partnership with National
Geographic Channel (NGC). Under this partnership, NGC is launching the
conservation themed real-time simulation game -- "Habitat Rescue! With
National Geographic Channel" -- in which users help a pride of lost lions
restore their natural paradise. The game is the centerpiece for the launch
of NGC's new online game site, http://www.natgeotv.com/games, which
includes a collection of hundreds of Real's games, categorized to align
with NGC's content and brand: Animals & Nature, Science & Technology,
History & Events, Exploration & Adventure, People & Places, and Preserve
Our Planet. "Habitat Rescue! With National Geographic Channel" was
developed by Rebel Monkey, published by Real and will be available
exclusively at http://www.natgeotv.com.
Building Cross-Platform Games Franchises
Real is continuing its strategy of extending its most popular games
like "Super Collapse!", "Sally's Salon" and "Little Shop of Treasures"
beyond the PC to game consoles and mobile phones. At Casual Connect, Real
is showing a lineup of games on multiple devices, including its first game
developed for the Nintendo(R) Wii(TM):
-- Real recently announced new games for Nintendo systems, including
its first retail title for the Nintendo Wii, "Mortimer Beckett and the
Secrets of Spooky Manor," and two new titles for the Nintendo DS(TM),
"Sally's Salon" and "Tropix". All three titles experienced marked success
on Real's online portals and have been reformatted and optimized with new
features that utilize the new platform capabilities, such as multi-player
modes and touchscreen challenges. These titles will be available at major
video game retailers this fall.
-- Another first for Real, "South Park Imaginationland" is the
company's first iPhone compatible mobile game title and is now available
for purchase only in the iTunes store.
-- Also announced earlier this year was touch-screen support for Real's
mobile games library of titles. At the show, Real will show its mobile game
adaptations of two notably successful titles, "Sally's Salon" and "Little
Shop of Treasures." Both games will be shown on touch-screen devices to
demonstrate this capability.
As Real continues with its cross-platform strategy, the Games Division
is exploring opportunities on platforms such as WiiWare(TM) and XBox LIVE
Arcade(R), aiming to deliver to consumers the games they want, whenever and
wherever they want to play them, on whichever device they choose.
Crossing New Milestone for In-Game Advertising
This month, Real's advertising business achieved a new milestone by
serving its 400 millionth in-game ad impression. This is a testament to the
value that advertisers are gaining by targeting casual games as an
effective advertising medium. Real pioneered the streaming of in-game video
advertising in early 2006 as a form of monetization and an innovative way
to provide free game play for consumers.
Casual Gaming represents an ideal opportunity for advertisers that
target women, who often make the majority of purchasing decisions in their
household. To paint a vivid picture of the average casual gamer, Real
commissioned Information Solutions Group (ISG) to survey over 5,000
RealArcade.com and GameHouse.com users earlier this year, resulting in the
following newly-released data:
Player Profiles
-- At 85% of all users, females continue to be the primary users of
Real Networks portals GameHouse.com and RealArcade.com.
-- Two-thirds (66%) of GameHouse and RealArcade users are married. 29%
are married with children living at home, another 27% are married with
children not living at home, while 10% are married with no children.
-- 40% of users are between 30 and 50 years of age [73% are between 30
and 60 years of age].
-- Over half (56%) of GameHouse and RealArcade users work full time or
are self employed, followed by 17% who are retired.
-- Four out of ten (39%) of those playing GameHouse and RealArcade
games identified themselves as college graduates, with 11% having an
advanced degree.
Leisure Time Activities
-- When asked to rate their involvement in 21 different leisure
activities, ranging from "daily" to "never," we found that GameHouse and
RealArcade users spend a significant part of their leisure time playing
casual games. 93% play casual games at least once a week with over half
(53%) playing daily, followed by 90% who watch TV/movies at home at least
once a week.
-- Listening to music/radio (89%), reading a book, magazine or
newspaper (89%) and talking on the phone (87%) round out the top five
leisure-time activities.
-- When asked to identify the leisure activity they participate in most
often, 22% said they watch TV/movies at home most, followed by 18% who play
casual games most often.
-- GameHouse and RealArcade users watch drama/adventure shows (72%) and
movies (71%) on TV most often, followed by the news (58%) and situation
comedies at 46%.
-- Half (50%) of the GameHouse and RealArcade users said Rock music is
one of their favorite music genres, followed by Country (45%) and Pop at
36%.
This international research was conducted by Information Solutions
Group, http://www.infosolutionsgroup.com for RealNetworks RealGames. The
results are based on online surveys completed by 5,456 respondents randomly
selected between January 8, 2008 and January 18, 2008. The audience
consisted of 818 men and 4,638 women website visitors. In theory, in 19
cases out of 20, the results will differ by no more than 1.3 percentage
points from what would have been obtained by seeking out and polling all
GameHouse.com and RealArcade.com users age 18 and over. Smaller subgroups
reflect larger margins of sampling error. Other sources of error, such as
variations in the order of questions or the wording within the
questionnaire, may also contribute to different results.
RealNetworks' Games Division is a leader in the casual games industry
worldwide, with a vertically integrated development, publishing, licensing,
distribution and retail business. Casual games are family friendly and
easy-to-learn but can be difficult to master. Played on personal computers,
mobile handsets, portable devices and living room consoles, casual games
include board, card, puzzle, word and hidden-object games.
RNWK-G
ABOUT REALNETWORKS
RealNetworks, Inc. delivers digital entertainment services to consumers
via PC, portable music player, home entertainment system or mobile phone.
Real created the streaming media category in 1995 and has continued to lead
the market with pioneering products and services, including: RealPlayer(R),
the first mainstream media player to enable one-click downloading and
recording of Internet video; the award-winning Rhapsody(R) digital music
service, which delivers more than 1 billion songs per year; RealArcade(R),
one of the largest casual games destinations on the Web; and a variety of
mobile entertainment services, such as ringback tones, offered to consumers
through leading wireless carriers around the world. RealNetworks' corporate
information is located at http://www.realnetworks.com/company.
RealNetworks, GameHouse, RealArcade, Rhapsody and RealPlayer are
registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. or its wholly owned subsidiary.
Nintendo, Nintendo DS and Wii are trademarks of Nintendo. All other
trademarks and names of products mentioned herein are the property of their
respective owners.
SOURCE RealNetworks, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.realnetworks.com
CONTACT:
Tiffany Dunning of RealNetworks,
+1-206-892-6733, tdunning@real.com; or Bailey Locke of SHIFT
Communications, +1-415-591-8457, blocke@shiftcomm.com, for
RealNetworks
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