CTIA: FISHLABS and Smaato Sign Deal to Launch Ad-supported Premium Mobile Games Globally

Today at CTIA FISHLABS, leading developer and publisher of high-end mobile games, and Smaato, pioneering provider for mobile advertising solutions, signed a deal to implement SOMA™ ad server technology into upcoming mobile games from FISHLABS. The first title to be ad-supported by SOMA™ will be the hotly anticipated successor of the multiple top award-winning 3D space shooter Galaxy on Fire™.

Galaxy on Fire™ 2 will be launched in late autumn as unlockable trial version free to download through www.fishlabs.net and viral channels in the internet as well. Gamers can play the game for free for some hours and purchase it later on when they want to move to higher levels in the game. This way, gamers can access the game without any download or traffic fees from the carriers and only pay for the game if they are truly satisfied with it. In some territories even the whole game will be ad-supported and completely free to play.

FISHLABS CEO & Co-Founder Michael Schade explains: ”Thanks to the outstanding quality of FISHLABS mobile games portfolio and the success of popular shareware sites in the internet and on mobile we have a huge fan base of several million mobile gamers worldwide. Fully integrated ads are the best way to monetize from free trial versions without bothering users with complicated billing methods or copy protection. The SOMA™ ad server technology delivers us the perfect tool to integrate ads seamlessly into our games and Smaato brings the service to sell our ad inventory through their ad sales network partners on top of that.”

”Major consumer brands are keen to market their products on mobile phones, especially in a premium environment,“ stated Harald Neidhardt, CMO & Co-Founder of Smaato. “However, the challenge is to find the right content that makes it onto the consumers’ phones. This why we are very excited about FISHLABS joining the Smaato network with their premium mobile games. The popularity and the extraordinary longevity of FISHLABS mobile games make them the perfect vehicle to bring mobile ads to a vast number of users globally and generate several million ad impressions per month.”

About FISHLABS
FISHLABS is one of the leading developers and publishers of high quality mobile 3D games. Founded in 2004, FISHLABS is responsible for the development of more than 15 high-end mobile games and employs a team of 30 people at the company's headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. FISHLABS' portfolio of mobile games includes numerous award-winning original IPs, such as Galaxy on Fire™, DEEP™ or Blades & Magic™, as well as AAA brands for well-known business partners, such as V-Rally® 3D for Glu, Star Wars™ – Imperial Ace 3D for THQ or Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam™ for Infospace (Activison license) and most recently Gladiator™. Thanks to the high-performance, platform-independent games engine ABYSS®, FISHLABS’ titles are able to offer a quality never before attained in the sphere of mobile gaming.
In October of 2007, FISHLABS concluded their first round financing with Neuhaus Partners, allowing the company to add increased community features to their mobile phone games in the future. Since July of 2008, the company has offered the mobile phone game community myFISHLABS, where users can benefit from features such as price advantages, easier payment, additional features, credit kick-backs, upgrades, and the exchange of information about their favourite games with other community members.
For more information visit www.fishlabs.net.

About Smaato
Smaato Inc. (www.smaato.com) is a leading mobile advertising technology company that provides the open mobile advertising platform called SOMA™ (Smaato Open Mobile Advertising) for developers, publishers, ad sales networks and operators. The SOMA platform enables the delivery of targeted display advertising to mobile phones within applications and on mobile sites. SOMA’s unique feature is the SOMA client, which is a mobile ad server on the handset that optimizes the process of ad-enabling applications for mobile software developers. SOMA can be easily integrated with 3rd party ad sales networks, ad inventory owners (developers, publishers, operators) and ad technology providers.
Smaato is an active member of the Mobile Marketing Association, the dot.mobi Advisory Group and the German digital media association BVDW. Smaato received a Top 100 Private Company award by AlwaysOn Media (US) in January of 2007. Smaato Inc. is based in San Mateo, California. The privately held company was founded in 2005 by an experienced international management team. The European office is in Hamburg, Germany.

Smaato® is a registered trademark of Smaato Inc. - SOMA™ is a trademark of Smaato Inc.

swordfish pr GAMES
Ilka Toellner
Trogerstrasse 17
D-81675 Munich, Germany
Tel: +49 - 89 – 600 316 41
Fax: +49 - 89 – 600 316 50
ilka@swordfish-pr.de
www.swordfish-pr.de

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