Virtual worlds are having a tough time thus far in 2010. You’ll remember that as of January 1st, Raph Koster’s Metaplace closed it’s doors, and now virtual world There.com has announced that they’re pulling the plug as of March 9th.
A project of Makena Technologies, There.com announced that they will continue on with “some exciting educational projects in process, which [it] will continue to service,” but that the entertainment arm will close. What’s striking about the announcement is that, at least from afar, the company looked to be on track – inking deals with Coca-Cola, CosmoGirl, Bebe, K-SWISS, and SPIN. There.com garnered revenue through both these brand partnerships as well as virtual goods sales. In the official announcement, CEO Mike Wilson says that although There.com worked to maintain a broadly accessible platform, it’s users were hit hard by the recession.
“While our membership numbers and the number of people in the world have continued to grow, there has been a marked decrease in revenue, which, in these economic times, is no surprise. At the end of the day, we can’t cure the recession, and at some point we have to stop writing checks to keep the world open,” comments Wilson. “There’s nothing more we would like to avoid this, but There is a business, and a business that can’t support itself doesn’t work. Before the recession hit, we were incredibly confident and all indicators were ‘directionally correct’ and we had every reason to believe growth would continue. But, as many of you know personally, the downturn has been prolonged and severe, and ultimately pervasive.”
Ironically, just over one year prior, Wilson had a completely different view, “Despite tough economic times, the virtual goods market continues to flourish as people look for inexpensive forms of entertainment.”
“NBC and our new partners understand both the expanding opportunity in the virtual goods category and the importance of branded merchandise as a form of self-expression for our members.”
What a difference a year makes.
As of the release of the announcement, There.com has suspended new registrations, billing, and member program upgrades. Developer submissions have been shut off, and the company is now in the process of refunding any virtual currency (Therebucks) purchases that were made between February 1st and March 2nd. Again, as of 11:59 PM PST March 9, 2010, There.com will be no more.
Little World Gifts will soon be adding three WWF branded items to it’s inventory. A virtual replica of the WWF’s ‘iconic’ panda logo will take a seat as a virtual collectable box, as well as a ‘wooden tiger toy’ and an animated Adelie penguin. These virtual gifts are slated to run between $3.99 and $4.99, and may be purchased using Apple’s microtransaction mechanism. Little World Gifts reports that 36 percent of the revenue generated will go directly to the WWF.
This kind of virtual gifting very well may have tremendous potential. Instead of picking up a handful of postcards with images shot years ago, a visitor to Vienna, for example, might be able to pick up a virtual Riesenrad, or a Tour Eiffel in Paris. They could then keep this virtual souvenir, or send it as a gift (a “Wish You Were Here”, if you will) to a friend or family member back stateside.
The News Feed patent now shores up Facebook’s main content delivery mechanism to be free from copycats. In the official 
