Online service provider Excite Inc will use games from multiplayer internet games specialist, Simutronics Corp, on the Excite games channel it launched yesterday. Excite is getting in on the online multiplayer games market, which despite promises from analysts of tremendous growth did not taken off as fast as originally expected. Last summer online games specialist Engage Games Online Inc had to lay off artists and web design staff because internet game play had not taken off fast enough and demand was highest on specialist online sites like AOL. Nevertheless the market is expected to pick up. In November, industry watchers DFC Intelligence said that the online gaming market would reach $1.26bn by 2001, from $165m in 1997. Featured games on the Engage site will include Gemstone III, DragonRealms, CyberStrike and Modus Operandi.
