Forbes magazine, a highly respected business publication, has speculated that Google may be entering the lucrative video game industry.
The editorial stated, "The paths Google could take to develop a bigger presence in the gaming industry are varied. With its financial war chest, the company could easily acquire one or several casual game development houses, using those to deliver in-game advertising via Adscape."
Imagine doing your surfing on Google only to notice that there were free games offered by the search engine. Forbes went on to say:
"For instance, visitors to Pogo.com and RealArcade tend to be women over 35, and they are already used to seeing advertising with their games–sometimes particularly intrusive advertising. If Google were to introduce a more subtle style–similar to the AdSense ads it has been so successful with–it could prove appealing."
Forbes thinks that Google could use some of its available features and incorporate them into games.
"Google also has several existing technologies that could be used to create games. Imagine a flight simulator that uses Google Earth as a backdrop or tracking a spy in a major city via Google Maps’ street view. While there would still be significant work required to create a game using these tools, the underlying technology is already fundamentally finished."
So why would Google even consider starting a new venture in video games?
Forbes said, ""There’s no question the company wants a part of the $18 billion videogame industry. The real question is: What is it planning to do to get it?"
[via techradar]
