IPC has acquired games website Mousebreaker.com for an undisclosed sum.
The UK-based site, launched in 2001, publishes more than 200 free online Flash-based games. The site, targets 18-to-34 year old men claims an audience in of more than 4 million unique users a month.
In a press release, IPC Ignite managing director Eric Fuller described the deal “a major strategic investment for IPC Media” which would support its existing sites targeting young men, Nuts.co.uk and Loaded.co.uk. Citing DFC Intelligence data, IPC says the online games market, worth an estimated $5.7 billion (£2.9bn) in 2007, is forecast to double in the next five years.
Fuller said: “Mousebreaker doubles our portfolio’s digital reach of UK young men. It’s an attractive proposition for advertisers, delivering a highly targeted and loyal male audience. We have some very exciting plans in place to enable our advertisers to engage with our audience of young men in innovative and effective ways.”
Mousebreaker co-founders Richard Pendry and Alick Stott will remain with the business, and will work with IPC Ignite to develop the brand. IPC Ignite’s sales team will take on take on ad sales for the site.
The move is the latest in a number of recent acquisitions of independent online-only publications by magazine publishers. In October 2007, IPC acquired the product review site TrustedReviews.
More recently, Dennis Publishing acquired the current affairs site The First Post and Hachette Filipacchi UK snapped up media news and forum site Digital Spy.
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