Yeah, yeah, you've read the studies, it's likely that casual gamers are your mothers, so no need to go into the gamers. Money-wise though, this means that Casual Games are big business at the moment. Not to pass-up an opportunity to make a profit, Microsoft has launched a new casual games website.

The site boasts what they claim to be over 400 games in every major genre possible. Of course these figures include games on Xbox Live, MSN Games, and games over Windows Live Messenger. Here's what Microsoft had to say in their Casual Games Fact Sheet:

The casual games space is growing at an unprecedented rate, and Microsoft has emerged as an undisputed leader in multiple-platform casual offerings, with more than 10 years of experience in the space. According to DFC Intelligence, revenue from casual games is expected to grow from $713 million (U.S.) in 2005 to $1.56 billion(U.S.) in 2008, fueled by the global appeal of games such as Bejeweled, Hexic, Diner Dash and Bespelled.

Check out the site yourself if you wish, just click on our "read" link below.

Casual games: small things employees play when they're bored at work.

Even though we already have a plethora of games for the PC, you gotta admit casual games still have their appeal and lure. Why? Well, for one thing, when the need arises for a simple distraction or you've got just a few minutes to kill, casual games are one of the quickest solutions there is.

And apparently, Microsoft seems to appreciate the simplicity in casual games as well because they've launched their new Ad-Share Programing. It will allow developers to get a cut in the company's ad revenue. The real motive? More developers will produce casual games for MSN Games.

Here's how the Ad-Share Programming works: developers will be able to get 10-20% of the total in-game ad revenue generated through the game they developed. Now to qualify for this, "little and no change in the development process" is required by the developer. No details were revealed as to what this exactly means. But for the 20% share, developers would have to give just a little bit more: ESRB rating, localization, and a "deluxe" game experience that'll offer consumers at least 10 hours of gameplay.

So if you cook up a wicked game that becomes a hit on MSN Games, you can get up to US$ 250,000 annually via the Ad-Share. Chris Early, studio manager for MS Casual Games, says:

Casual game developers traditionally operate on a limited revenue model, typically receiving a set fee from downloadable titles or a small royalty associated with game subscriptions. Now, by sharing in-game advertising revenue, we're allowing a more diversified business model that gives our partners more resources to create new, innovative titles for the 13 million people we see every month on MSN Games.