Sega launches free ad-supported mobile games

By Giselle Abramovich

May 14, 2008

Your boss - wake up!

Sega of America Inc. finally joins other leading game publishers with the debut of free mobile games supported by advertising.

The Japanese-owned company is working with Greystripe, a leading distributor of ad-supported mobile games and applications, to launch three classic game titles from the Sega collection.

“Greystripe gives Sega access to a broader and different audience from those accessing the for-pay carriers’ deck,” said Michael Chang, CEO of Greystripe, San Francisco. “Greystripe, in return, gets well-known content for our audience.”

The three Sega games – Sonic Jump, Afterburner II and Golden Axe – will be delivered to all 50 of Greystripe’s Catalog Platform partners.

The games will also be distributed through Greystripe’s GameJump.com, which claims to be the world’s largest ad-supported mobile game portal.

Diet Coke Plus ... is not Coke?

In addition, Sega will monetize its mobile game content through Greystripe’s AdWrap ad network, which includes brands such as Diet Coke, Yahoo, eBay and New Line Cinema.

The Greystripe AdWrap technology automates the process for ads to be wrapped directly with mobile games and applications without any coding and development from the content owner.

“This deal with Sega is a great example of content that brands want to be a part of,” Mr. Chang said.

“In a situation like this, brands like Yahoo, Diet Coke and New Line Cinema are able to develop a deeper relationship with their audience because they’re, in effect, sponsoring these games and consumers know that they are free because of them,” he said.

The Greystripe deal opens Sega to ads within its games, a possibility that as recently as the CTIA Wireless conference in early April was not a Sega public position.

Now, Sega adds another revenue stream for its games from ads that run within them. The game publisher generates its revenue from sales of games.

Greystripe has recorded 50 million downloads of popular games from publishers such as Digital Chocolate, Sega, Vivendi Games Mobile and Hands-On Mobile. The games were downloaded onto mobile from GameJump.com.

As is the case with other game publishers, the Greystripe deal is all about mobile reach and revenue for Sega.

“The opportunity, through Greystripe’s distribution, is to reach a much broader audience and to give publishers like Sega a direct connection to their end consumers,” Mr. Chang said.