London - The market for massively multiplayer online games in the West reached $1 billion for the first time in 2006, with North American subscriptions totaling $576 million and European subscriptions $299 million, according to a report from market research firm Screen Digest.

Los Angeles - Finland's Sulake Corporation, parent company of the Habbo online virtual world for teens, on Monday announced the launch of a snowball fight multiplayer game across its 29 Habbo communities around the world. To promote "SnowStorm," Habbo is also offering a range of snow-themed stickers, gadgets and furniture for Habbo users' personal pages. Habbo currently counts a total of over 7.5 million unique monthly users, including 2 million at its North American sites.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision announced on Tuesday that it will acquire DemonWare, an Ireland-based developer of network middleware technologies for console and PC games.

Los Angeles - Verse Studios, an independent game developer formed in May 2006, announced on Monday that it has commenced an external funding round and hopes to raise $500,000 over the next year. "We are really excited to be moving forward as a company, and are looking forward to talking with investors and colleagues at GDC. This round of funding will allow us to realize the initiatives that are so important to us as a gaming company, and as members of the gaming community," said Verse co-founder and CEO Travis Savo. Los Angeles-based Verse is currently at work on "Verse: Tactics," a multiplayer online real-time strategy PC game.

Los Angeles - Sierra Online, a unit of Vivendi Games, announced on Friday that it has signed a producer and a number of artists from Vivendi's Universal Music Group to create an exclusive in-game soundtrack for its "FreeStyle Street Basketball" massively multiplayer online PC game. G-Unit's Lloyd Banks will create the game's official theme song, while Young Hot Rod and Sha Money XL will contribute original tracks. The game will initially be available for a free public preview in the spring, and then later offered at retail and via digital distribution.