Nickelodeon chases Disney with gaming, virtual world divisions

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:29:11 -0700

Nickelodeon has revealed to Paid Content that it is forming two new divisions to increase their focus on online gaming and virtual worlds.

Viacom, Nickelodeon's parent company, is shuffling a few people to head up the new divisions, with the Games Group to be led by Dave Williams, formerly Senior Vice President and General Manager of Shockwave and AddictingGames, and the Virtual Worlds Group to be led by Kyra Reppen, formerly head of the Neopets site.

In the Games area, there will be a push to add new games as well as invest more in the casual games space, with games to be built around existing Nickelodeon brands and properties. The Virtual Worlds area has plans for virtual worlds to be created around the Neopets and SpongeBob brands, with a third under development as well.

The real question for Nickelodeon now will be how it will fare against companies that have built out their casual gaming and virtual worlds content at a much faster pace. Disney has already revamped its tween portal, Disney eXtreme Digital, added virtual worlds built around the Disney Fairies and Pirates of the Caribbean properties, and moved into the casual gaming sector with their purchase of Club Penguin last year.

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Nickelodeon chases Disney with gaming, virtual world divisions