Oberon Media, a maker of casual computer games, said Tuesday that it’s acquiring PixelPlay, which creates games and distributes them via interactive television.

The acquisition is the second announced by Oberon in as many months and completes a series of strategic moves made by the company to help it reach consumers across three screens: those of PCs, mobile phones, and televisions.

In late May, Oberon announced it was acquiring I-Play, a U.K.-based mobile-gaming specialist, for an undisclosed sum (see Merger Game).

Terms of the PixelPlay deal were not disclosed, but Oberon representatives said the two New York–based companies are already working to combine services and consolidate licenses.

Oberon currently distributes a portfolio of more than 1,000 games through a network of partners including several hundred wireless carriers and web sites run by companies including Microsoft, Comcast, BSkyB, Sprint, AT&T, Yahoo Games, and Electronic Arts.

PixelPlay, meanwhile, has access to games and licenses from companies including Hasbro, Atari, WPT Enterprises, and the Learning Company.

According to PixelPlay CEO Ron Chaimowitz, the deal puts Oberon in a better position to be innovative and take different business models across the company’s various platforms. He also said players will be able to access community features across different devices. Features common to the industry include chat, scoreboards, and customizable player characters called avatars.

Mr. Chaimowitz will join Oberon and lead the company’s interactive-TV efforts.

Reality Check

Though the PixelPlay deal gives Oberon access to yet another market, it’s a tiny one. In the United States alone, video games generated more than $12 billion in 2006, but revenue from set-top box gaming accounted for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the market, said Michael Cai, a broadband and gaming analyst with Parks Associates.

A big reason for that is indifference to the platform by major game publishers and developers, but cable providers aren’t exactly championing the market either. “Carriers have so many things on their plate, and games [are] not on top,” Mr. Cai said. Analog cable subscribers—about half of all TV subscribers—can’t even access the games because they don’t have a set-top box, and that means an even smaller pool of potential customers.

But the market is changing. Increasing numbers of consumers have access to digital TV services and digital video recorders with built-in hard drives. Service providers, meanwhile, are looking to gaming as a way to increase subscriber loyalty and potentially increase revenue.

PixelPlay’s Mr. Chaimowitz admitted that in the past cable companies focused on building their infrastructure to include video on demand, voice over IP, and high-definition service, but he said major TV service providers will be deploying “significant” game services soon. “We’re now at a watershed,” he said.