IGA up for sale amidst recession woes

by Richard Mitchell on Mar 16th 2009 1:32PM

Thanks to an ad market in turmoil as a result of the economic recession, in-game advertising company IGA has put itself up for sale. According to VentureBeat, the company is hoping to close a new round of funding, but chairman Justin Townsend has acknowledged that an outright sale of the company may be necessary for the sake of its shareholders. Prospective bidders reportedly have until March 27 to make an offer. Townsend notes that he does not wish to accept "low ball offers" for the company. The news comes after the company lost $11 million in 2007 with revenues of $3 million.

With the economy rearing its ugly head all around the gaming industry, sprinkling our dreaded layoffs tag in its wake, we suppose it was only a matter of time before related industries were affected. Whether IGA's fate is reflective of the in-game advertising business as a whole remains to be seen. Maybe IGA should use its in-game ads to advertise other games. Seems like publishers aren't too shy about advertising those.

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Tags: advertising, iga, in-game-advertising

Reader Comments (4)

Opening bid: 1 dollar.

Hey Richard I hope they don't send you a bill for use of their logo and advertising it.

Does not wish to accept lowball offers, well that's just adorable. I suppose in game advertising will find it's place in the industry, however I hope it stays minimalist. I think it can certainly be appropriate for some genres, racing perhaps, but certainly shouldn't find it's way into RPGs or anything like that.

I think lowball is all your going to get. Sorry Justin, but your business plan am fail.

Was there ever a point when in-game advertising was thought to really be successful? I always thought it was an overly complicated medium with an target base inversely related to it's complexity.