Yahoo! Games is expanding its lucrative online games business, becoming one of the first web-based games portals to branch out into mobile phone games. The Yahoo! Games service is currently available to Verizon subscribers, and the company plans to branch out to other mobile providers soon.
Yahoo!'s expansion plans are two-pronged: first, the company is launching Yahoo Games Studio, a division devoted to creating games for their mobile services. The other prong of their plan for expansion comes in the acquisition of Stadeon Inc., the creators of the Carousel software that allows cross-platform connectivity in games. In addition to being able to challenge players on other types of handsets and providers, Yahoo! Games subscribers will be able to play against those accessing the service from the Yahoo! Games website.
John Cahill, founder and CEO of Stadeon, will join Yahoo!'s new games division as the director of games operations. "We are excited to bring Stadeon’s cross-platform games technology to Yahoo! Games," Cahill. "Yahoo! understands the value of its large community and now letting its consumers play against any one of the 345 million Yahoo! users worldwide, anywhere, anytime and whether they are on a mobile device or their PC."
