-By Mike Shields

Yahoo said plans to roll out more than 400 free ad-supported casual games on its own gaming site and multiple partner sites by the end of this year—and to facilitate that rollout, it’s partnering with the in-game advertising firms Double Fusion and NeoEdge.

Though Yahoo has sold advertising in and around casual games which are played directly on Yahoo Games and other properties for over a decade, it’s also long offered users the option to download more elaborate games to their desktops for a fee. Typically, users can try these games for a limited period of time before they elect to make a purchase.

However, while Yahoo says these downloadable games sales are lucrative, just 1 percent of game trials result in a purchase. “That means that tens of millions of game plays go unmonetized,” said Kyle Laughlin, head of games, Yahoo. “We need to go to two partners to help us bring this to market faster.” Therefore, the portal has tapped both the casual game video ad specialist NeoEdge, as well as the in-game ad firm Double Fusion to begin helping monetize these titles. Both will provide Yahoo with technology and ad sales support.

Laughlin said Yahoo still plans to continues allowing users to purchase some titles, but as part of its new ad initiative some games will be made completely free in order to increase their appeal. “We want to help bring ad supported games to the widest possible audience,” explained Alex Terry, CEO of NeoEdge. “These users are purchasing these games with their eyeballs rather than with a credit card.”

The concept of allowing advertisers to subsidize downloadable game play is one that has been tried before, perhaps most notably by casual games publisher and ad seller WildTangent, which allows brands to provide users with free credits through its WildCoins program. But according to Double Fusion CEO and president Jonathan Epstein, by making some games entirely free for Yahoo Games’ huge audience, “Yahoo is really throwing down the gauntlet,” he said. “This is a game changer for casual games, no pun intended.”