NetDNA Finds Connection to Growing Online Games Market

NetDNA, a Studio City-based Web services company, is pursuing a hot new market: the next generation of online games. Launched in 2009, NetDNA created a niche business for itself as an inexpensive alternative to large content delivery companies such the publicly traded Akamai. These companies improve access to data and content on a website by providing their own networks to companies allowing firms to spread their web content across servers strategically placed around the world. Now the company is eyeing the likes of Angry Birds from Rovio— clients that range from streaming game companies to firms that sell downloadable products. The goal is to help those games or websites run faster. “It is a very fast-growing industry,” NetDNA Vice President of Marketing David Henzel said. Worldwide sales of online games — which include games for computers, smartphones and tablets — is expected to grow from $19.3 billion in 2010 to $37.9 billion in 2016, according to a 2011 report from San Diego-based research firm DFC Intelligence. “We expect a slow, steady decline for physical game sales, with a steady increase for online delivery of games and new business models such as subscriptions and virtual item sales,” David Cole, an analyst with DFC Intelligence, said in a statement. Online games should pass retail software sales such as games for Xbox or PlayStation in 2013, the researcher said. NetDNA said it inked 10 percent of its 2010 revenues from gaming companies. Last year, that jumped to 20 percent. The firm hopes to increase the percentage to 30 percent by the end of the year through increased marketing and presence at trade shows. Although the company has had gaming clients from the beginning, it’s just now making the push, Henzel said, noting the firm attended its first Game Developers Conference in Austin last October. The company declined to disclose revenues. NetDNA, which has about 26 employees in Studio City and 6,300 customers worldwide, offers several content delivery network solutions, including a pay-as-you-go platform and a network dedicated exclusively to video. San Francisco-based Humble Bundle Inc., which sells packages of games for Android, Windows, Mac and Linux, contracted with NetDNA about a year ago. CEO Jeffrey Rosen said he stores JavaScript, CSS and HTML files on NetDNA’s servers. That has helped speed up the company’s website about two to three times, he said. “The end result is (consumers) load the page much faster and have a much better experience,” Rosen said. But in the online world, tastes change fast, which may present a challenge for the company. That fear is overblown, Henzel said, adding NetDNA is seeking to latch onto companies with a proven track record of producing high quality games for millions of Internet users. “(Companies) are constantly working on new games,” he said. “There is rarely a one-hit wonder.”