Earlier this week, Nickelodeon said that it was developing 600 new games. Now the MTVN (NYSE: VIA) unit is clarifying things a bit: it will host 1,600 new games across its collection of kid-focused websites, 600 of which will be original. Nickelodeon’s gaming library currently contains about 5,000 games, many housed on AddictingGames, which came over to MTVN when its parent Viacom bought Atom Entertainment for $200 million in August 2006.

I spoke with Steve Youngwood, EVP, Digital Media, MTVN Kids and Family Group, about the the unit’s gaming push, which began last summer, when Nickelodeon pledged to invest $100 million in casual gaming through 2009.

-- Not a portal: “Our gaming approach is: we’re not a portal business. We’re about targeting our audiences, and so, we break out our web initiatives as well as our mobile efforts, for pre-schools, kids, teen girls and teen boys. There’s some overlap there, but we try to differentiate. The other big audience is made of up parents and women. So we create destinations for each one of them. Our goal in the world of search, where there are only about five sites that people actually go to directly, we want to be on that short list. We love search, but we believe we’re premium brands, premium destinations, and our gaming philosophy flows from that.”

-- 1,600 games and counting: The number may seem like a lot, but it’s all stemming from consumer demand - particularly teen males, who always seem to want a new and different game. The company hadn’t necessarily set out to meet a specific number, but as Nickelodeon did more research, it found itself led to the 1,600 number. Youngwood: “We look at what it means to be competitive and what the audience wants. The pre-school audience doesn’t need as many new games, but for the teen male audience, we launch about 100 games a month. They want stuff that’s more disposable, quick in’s and out’s. Our tagline for AddictingGames is ‘You think you’re going to play just one.’ But 45 minutes later, you’re still there.’”

-- Looking outside: Another focus of its gaming strategy is to allow more embeds on other sites. So far, AddictingGames users can place games on other websites. Nickelodeon also wants to let users email and other sharing methods. Youngwood: “We have one title on Xbox Arcade. Simply put, wherever there’s a relevant platform, we will be there: either mobile, Xbox Arcade, Wii-ware. All of these things are in some form of development. We’re looking at Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone platform.” Nickelodeon, Facebook and MySpace applications.”

-- User-gen games: Users have always been able to upload their creations on AddictingGames. But now, Nickelodeon is offering some help for those users who don’t happen to be Flash programmers. Nick and Shockwave - which also came over in the Atom acquisition - are separately working on giving users game engine toolkits, each one appropriate for its various audiences.

-- Virtual Worlds: Nick is currently developing three new virtual worlds. These new sites are expected to be rolled out within the next 18 months and will be aimed at kids 8- to 15-year-olds. They will also likely be free similar to its 2.5D world Nicktropolis.

-- Mobile WAP sites coming: In tandem with the gaming focus, Nickelodeon is also concentrating more heavily on mobile. The company will be rolling out three mobile WAP sites over the next month. The new mobile destinations are related to its Nickelodeon, The N and ParentsConnect online brands, though the WAP versions will have original content of their own. More details are available on our sister site, MocoNews.

• Nickelodeon’s Game Plan: 600 Casual Games Being Developed; 185 Games Planned For Nick.com Alone
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