Secret Builders goes live with educational game world for kids
Secret Builders is announcing today an online virtual world with educational games for children. In doing so, it joins a bunch of rivals going after the kids online game market, from Zookazoo to Club Penguin.
This world lets kids create two-dimensional avatars, or virtual characters, and play about 30 different mini-games spread throughout the different territories of the site. The games are entertaining but don’t necessarily stand out from other Flash-based online sites for kids. And… Continue Reading
Casual gaming worth $2.25 billion, and growing fast
While the enthusiast gaming market is somewhat stagnant, the casual gaming market is on a spurt, growing 20 percent each year. Casual games are smaller and cheaper to develop than blockbusters like Halo, but also less lucrative. However, while the profits from casual games appear smaller, their low development costs and potentially high profit margins also provide a better opportunity for startups.
“Casual gaming” is loosely defined as anything easy to learn that doesn’t require a… Continue Reading
Disney buys Club Penguin in $700 million deal — virtual worlds have arrived?
Updated
Club Penguin, a virtual world for kids, has been bought by the Walt Disney Company. The deal is valued at $700 million: $350 million in cash now, and another $350 million if performance targets are met through 2009.
The company, based in remote British Columbia, has more than twelve million total users — mostly kids 6-14 in North America — and including more than 700,000 paying subscribers. It says it is completely funded through subscriptions.
Founded in… Continue Reading
Roundup: E-fight, Voki avatars, young founders, Kokua, Imeem and more
Latest action:
Evite vs. Socializr continued — The bad blood between Jonathan Abrams, founder of Friendster and now founder of online event service Socializr, and the lawyers at Evite, is worse than we realized. The bitterness started during the Friendster days, and worsened when Evite threatened to sue Socializr, saying the start-up had copied Evite’s templates and styles. Abrams now responds with a diatribe, saying Evite is a hypocrite and a bully. We’ve requested comment from… Continue Reading