This calendar year, the number of game clicks on the platform has increased by a quarter.
This was shared in a conversation with our colleagues from Mobile Gamer by Andrew Pedersen, Head of Gaming at Yahoo, who previously held responsibility for mobile at EA.
Incidentally, Yahoo indeed chose an experienced professional manager. Pedersen launched the web portal Pogo.com for the same EA, managed operations at GSN, served as Vice President of Game Design at Big Fish Games, and led its restructuring under Aristocrat.
As for Yahoo's gaming section, it has an unusual story. The American search engine was one of the pioneers of web gaming. The game storefront appeared on the site back in 1998. However, the platform's development was halted during the mobile gaming boom. In 2014, it was shut down entirely.
In 2023, it was relaunched. This happened quietly, without any major announcements, exclusively within the United States.
In January of this year, under Pedersen's management, it saw a second relaunch. Yahoo Games is still only available to U.S. residents. However, it is now positioned towards a casual audience with a major exclusive—King's match-three game, Crushable.
Apparently, the rebranding, with an emphasis on original content, enabled the platform to grow both its user base and activity.
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