Macrovision sells its games division for a big loss

California rights protection company Macrovision has sold off yet another of its properties in its move toward concentrating on the interactive video and set-top box market.

RealMedia announced today that it has acquired Trymedia from Macrovision for an undisclosed sum. In Macrovision's quarterly earnings call yesterday, however, it announced its gaming division had been sold for $4 million. Macrovision initially bought the company in 2005 for $34 million.

Macrovision's Games DRM business incorporated Trymedia's ActiveMark proprietary rights technology. However, due to problems associated with the DRM, and controversy surrounding the StarForce copy prevention brand used on the company's TryGames service, things did not look well for the company. In 2007, Trymedia plummeted in value by $14 million.

Though the cost of this acquisition is still unsubstantiated by RealMedia as of now, $4 million seems a fair price for the company in its current state. Last year, Real bought Gametrust for $20 million, that company's platform powers one-third of the top casual gaming sites. By adding the copy protection and DRM solutions adopted by some of its partners to its portfolio, RealMedia fortifies its position in the PC casual game market.

The sale of TryMedia represents a tremendous financial loss to Macrovision, but also marks the end of its tenure over a failing division of the company. Now, it can move ahead toward its bigger goal: interactive video , and set-top-box on-demand solutions, and the electronification of TV Guide.