Real To Acquire Casual, Social Infrastructure Dev Game Trust

RealNetworks has announced that it will be acquiring casual game infrastructure developer Game Trust in its fourth quarter, looking to add social networking capabilities to its casual game syndication partners such as Lifetime.TV. Profiled by Gamasutra in April, Game Trust has been operating since 2002 as both casual game publisher and infrastructure provider, driving some of the most prominent online gaming portals such as MiniClip.com and Shockwave.com with its Game Frame platform. Real notes that its own network currently powers more than 200 casual games channels operated by "popular media outlets and portal companies worldwide." One such partner is the Lifetime channel, whose games VP said that "social networking is a critical next step for the casual games industry and for Lifetime," and that the channel was looking forward to implementing Game Trust. Said Game Trust CEO Adeo Ressi, "We are very excited to join Real and push the casual games industry forward. This agreement unites the industry's top content, top distribution, and top technology platform. The players will ultimately benefit."