NeoEdge, the casual and online game advertising platform, is getting into the game development business. The company has merged with Offspring, a startup founded by a team of four EA vets, and will start creating casual and social games, as well as the ad platforms to support them. Offspring founder Lesley Mansford will be the newly merged company’s CEO; NeoEdge’s former CEO Dan Servos will move into the role of SVP of ad sales and business development.

Mansford brings over two decades of experience to the role, including 16 years with EA. Before founding Offspring, she served as EA’s VP of digital distribution. Fellow Offspring founders Andrew Pedersen, Karen Schulman, and Todd Heringer held various leadership roles at EA’s Pogo.com casual games division; they’re all joining NeoEdge. Mansford said NeoEdge backer Vanedge Capital floated the idea of a merger after Offspring had approached the firm regarding funding; she added that the hype surrounding the EA/Playfish deal had increased Offspring’s valuation “almost overnight.”

Moving forward, NeoEdge’s goals will be split between developing casual and social games—with the first Facebook-based title under development, and slated for a launch in early 2010—and brokering deals with big brands like USA Networks, to power in- and around game ads, as well as custom sponsorships. Mansford said Servos will focus on “taking the current ad sales business and partnerships to the next level.”

NeoEdge is currently based in Mountain View, Calif, with an engineering office in Toronto; the company plans a permanent move to an S.F. office. It has 20 employees; Mansford said they’d be hiring a VP of ad sales to work in N.Y, as well as a “small team” of developers in S.F.

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