Macrovision acquires digital distribution experts Trymedia

Anti-piracy technology firm Macrovision has made a significant move into the secure digital distribution space with the acquisition of market leader Trymedia Systems in a $34 million deal which is expected to complete this week.

The deal will see Trymedia, which operates the world's largest distribution network for downloadable products on the PC thanks to its ActiveMARK suite of security and e-commerce products, becoming a part of a new games business unit.

Macrovision hopes that this unit will be positioned to provide an end-to-end solution for publishers of both core and casual games, giving them the ability to secure, distribute, promote and even patch their PC products.

Trymedia's solutions are also capable of protecting boxed games - but the main thrust of the technology is online, and Macromedia also plans to offer retailers, portals, ISPs and other such firms a service which can offer over a thousand downloadable games to their customers.

"This acquisition, along with the formation of our new business unit, underscores Macrovision's strategic focus to efficiently enable our consumers to distribute their games both on and offline," according to Macrovision president and CEO Fred Amoroso.

"Consumers today want to be able to get their game content when they want it, where they want it and that requires a distribution system that enables that flexibility securely, while also protecting the content from massive unauthorized usage," he concluded.

The move does prove Macrovision's commitment to the videogames market, and indicates a new direction for the company in some respects. Much of its work to date on protecting videogames has been focused on preventing CD and DVD duplication, methods which are widely seen as inconveniencing paying customers as well as being outdated and unrealistic in the face of widespread internet piracy.