Tag: ad age

Mobile gaming move made by Microsoft with “Age of Empires”

| April 17, 2014

The game will be brought to smartphones and tablets in a release that will occur this summer.

Nearly a year after Microsoft confirmed that Age of Empires would be coming to the mobile gaming world, the company has finally announced that this previously PC- and console-only experience will be headed to Windows Phone, iOS, and Android app stores as of this summer.

Microsoft has now opened up a pre-registration that grants access to exclusive updates about the apps.

Players are able to pre-register so that they can learn more about the Age of Empires: World Domination mobile gaming app, as soon as news becomes available, as well as gaining access to recent news about the series as a whole. Last June, Redmond announced that its game would be coming to smartphones when it entered into a licensing agreement with KLab Inc. so that the title could be further developed. Equally, though, the company downplayed rumors that have been circulating that would suggest that other Microsoft game favorites would also be adapted for the smaller screen.

This mobile gaming news appears to be an event unto itself at the moment, not to be followed by other titles.

According to Larry Hyrb, the Xbox Live Network director of programming, “There are no further announcements beyond Age of Empires at this time.”

At the same time, the promise made by the release of Age of Empires: World Domination is that the powers of the world will be placed “within your grasp” through the deployment of various forms of complex battle tactics through the use of “simple and intuitive touch gestures.”

The story of the gaming app works over a hundred legendary heroes from history into its web, with characters such as Joan of Arc and the Franks, Cnut the Great and the Vikings, King Arthur and the Celts, and even Atilla the Hun. As of this summer, gamers will no longer be limited to their PCs and consoles. Through their smartphones, they will be able to play in teams with their friends or to challenge other players in order to be able to conquer the world.

A sneak peak of this app was made along with the mobile gaming announcement at the PAX East gaming conference where the Age of Empires and Microsoft team were present.

Social media marketing survey reveals advertising opinions about Facebook

| September 19, 2013

Research from Ad Age has looked into the way that advertisers feel about that network.

The latest survey from Ad Age has looked into the perceptions that advertisers have developed regarding social media marketing over Facebook, including the adoption of ads on that network and the perception of increases in ROI.

Throughout the last 15 months, Facebook has moved to maturity from having been an experimental channel.

Companies that had previously hesitated to include social media marketing as a significant part of their budgets are now considering the channel to be a natural part of their campaigns and are continuing to boost their spending there. This was a part of the results that were confirmed through the participation of approximately 1,200 subscribers to Ad Age who were polled within the company’s survey in connection with RBC Capital Markets.

This social media marketing survey was conducted in August and was the third of its nature since June 2012.

Social Media Marketing SurveyThat June 2012 social media marketing survey occurred just slightly before the IPO at Facebook. This most recent version of the survey has seen an increased percentage of respondents that claim to be using Facebook as a part of their advertising mix. That said, it continues to remain at a steady level greater than 80 percent. At the same time, the specific number who said that they are now advertising over the network has spiked significantly when compared to 15 months before.

Approximately 74 percent of the survey respondents stated that their budgets for Facebook social media marketing now include ad outlays. That number has risen significantly since January 2012, when the figure was 62 percent and even more since June 2012, when it was only 54 percent.

The most recent social media marketing survey included respondents among whom 30 percent identified themselves as employees of ad agencies and 26 percent identified themselves as either marketers or clients. The remainder of the participants were said to be either consultants or employees of media companies.

The increase in the percentage of marketers who are purchasing social media marketing ads from Facebook was said – by Mark Mahaney, RBC Capital analyst – to be a clear indicator of the rising ad income that is headed in Facebook’s direction.