Gamigo and KingsIsle’s parent company, the Swedish-based Media Games Invest aka MGI, has been pushing hard into its advertising and marketing segment over the last few years as it appeared to be squishing down its gaming segment – something made very obvious to us as Gamigo has closed a bunch of MMORPGs and shuttled others back to their original developers over the last few years. Apparently, the next stage of that move is now at hand, as less than a month ago, MGI announced that it’s no longer MGI. It’s now going as Verve.
What the heck is Verve? It’s a US-based advertising company MGI bought in 2020 at the start of the COVID pandemic; apparently, MGI will be using that branding for the whole company, and it’s talking up Verve as a “leading AI-driven ad-software platform delivering effective and efficient solutions for brands, agencies and media suppliers.”
As MOP reader Clowd points out, this isn’t the first time MGI has changed its name; before its transition to MGI in 2019, it was known as Blockescence.
We have no specific reason to believe the Gamigo MMORPGs are in any (extra) danger from the move, but it’s worth keeping an eyeball on. In fact, the PR specifically states that “[t]he gaming subsidiaries of MGI which support the media business strongly with unique ad-inventory, data, and testing environments, will continue to operate under their own brands.”
But you know I can’t do one of these industry posts without quoting a giant pile of industry jargon from the press release, so here’s the best nonsense from this one:
“We have built an AI-based platform to perfectly match media-demand and supply, rapidly expanded our customer base, increased cost efficiency, focused teams on growth and developed new products to achieve consistent double-digit growth. […] We are enabling better outcomes with responsible advertising solutions in emerging channels by focusing on innovative, data-based, and AI-driven targeting solutions and strategic partnerships. The rebranding will support and go hand-in-hand with our goal to also strongly expand our direct partnerships with brands and agencies, while further improving our already strong supply side, enabling the company to continue to deliver strong double-digit growth in the coming years.”
