MTV splashing out on games

Music maestro MTV has said it will invest around USD 500 million in games over the next two years, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The comments were made by big cheese Judy McGrath, who said the grand plan was to incorporate game development at the birth of every big idea.

"As we take our brands narrow and deep to serve our targeted, niche audiences, we're putting well over USD 500 million behind building our games business across all of the brands in our portfolio," said McGrath.

Parent company Viacom splashed the cash on Internet company Atom Entertainment last year for USD 200 million, as well as shelled out USD 175 million for Guitar Hero developer Hamonix.

MTV believes that 47 per cent of its audience are gamers, which compares favourably to the Web user figure of 27 per cent.

Initial success has been made by Xfire, Neopets.com and Nictropolis, with the hugely anticipated Rock Band due out in the US this November.

"Rock Band. Maybe it will be the next MTV... Who knows?" mused McGrath.