Tech Shout!

Popular children’s cable TV Network Nickelodeon has announced that it is putting in $100 million in the development of online casual gaming endeavors.

The American company’s commitment will extend toward massive multiplayer online (MMO) games, virtual worlds and self-published gaming titles during the next two years.

Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group president Cyma Zarghami made the announcement, which was further spoken at the Casual Connect gaming conference in Seattle during a keynote address by Steve Youngwood, executive VP digital media.

According to Zarghami, the company is especially optimistic about the online casual gaming scene especially in the kids space, which has over 86 percent of kids gaming online, who fall in the age group of 8-14.

Also a part of Nickelodeon’s innovative venture is myNoggin, a multiplayer “3D Slimeball which is a preschool educational game in the form of a subscription service; an expansion of the Nicktropolis multiplayer games franchise; Nick Gaming Club, Nickelodeon’s first subscription offering featuring multiplayer games with 3-D avatars; the-NGames.com, a casual gaming site that targets female teens; and the transformation of the site Neopets.com to NeoStudios, a property centering on the formation of new online virtual world experiences.

Gaming is surely one of the most upcoming and renowned sector in the present day. As per an estimate by the Casual Games Association, over 200 million people around the globe play casual games through the internet medium, and by 2008, the casual games market is predicted to hit $1.5 billion worldwide. Now boosting those numbers further is Nickelodeon who will be perhaps posing cut throat competition in front of industry leaders such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft and RealNetworks.