Yahoo during its earnings report last night indicated that it is developing a daily fantasy game that will debut this summer, placing the company in direct competition against established operators FanDuel and DraftKings. Already a major player in traditional fantasy sports, Yahoo has been silent for months while rivals such as ESPN made their own strategic moves in the area of daily games. But the company veered from its own practice and disclosed its product development plans well in advance of release. “Normally, we do not announce products before launch, but this has been an area of interest for our fantasy players and our investors. We wanted to announce that we have a new daily fantasy offering in the works that will launch this summer,” Yahoo said in a statement. Specific details around Yahoo’s pending daily games or how they will differ from those from FanDuel and DraftKings were not disclosed. But Yahoo continued, “We believe this is an area where Yahoo can and should compete well. Over the past year, we have been working hard to create our daily fantasy offering, a unique take on this game genre to bolster our leadership in fantasy sports.” Over the past decade and a half, Yahoo has played a major role in expanding the popularity of traditional sports through its aggressive promotion of free online play.
