Microsoft News Tracker

You may recall that in April the news broke that Microsoft was acquiring Massive, Inc. who sells ads in video games, a thoroughly modern niche. Well, business seems to be booming for Massive:

South Korean video game company Webzen Inc. on Tuesday said it struck a deal in which Microsoft Corp.’s newly acquired Massive Inc. advertising unit will place promotions in two of its upcoming titles.

The ad deal, which is a first for online game maker Webzen, marks Massive’s entry into the Asian market, the companies said. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Games included in the deal are “Huxley,” set for release next year, and “All Points Bulletin,” due in 2008. Those titles, which are set in virtual urban environments, are so-called massively multiplayer online games that can support thousands of players at once.

They also slated to support the Xb0x 360 and PC’s only but the formal press release indicates that the deal only covers the PC versions. All of which brings up the interesting question of how platform agnostic Massive is or can be and how much that limits its potential. Would Massive really place ads in a PlayStation game? Would a PlayStation game publisher even consider them?