Microsoft May Buy Second Life Developer
Microsoft may bail out Linden Labs if rumors are true.
Thursday brought reports that Microsoft may have silently offered to purchase Second Life developer Linden Lab.
The news follows an additional report that Linden Lab is closing its UK office on Thursday, an unsurprising move given that the studio cut 30-percent of its staff back in June. To make matters worse, CEO Mark Kingdon walked away from his position two weeks later.
But according to a current Linden Lab employee, various companies have already offered to purchase the studio, Microsoft being the latest. Purchasing Linden Lab would be an interesting move for Microsoft, as the company could integrate Second Life into Xbox Live--possibly even Games for Windows Live--to offer a service similar to Sony’s PlayStation Home virtual environment on the PlayStation 3. Games for Windows Live support would mean that current residents could still enter the virtual world, but only through the stand-alone client.
Linden Lab launched Second Life for the PC back in June 2003. Unlike current MMORPGs, the virtual world offered no quests to fulfill, no characters to level, and didn’t even offer a compelling story. Instead, it was more of a 3D social environment allowing users to create virtual goods and sell their items for real-world cash. Today Second Life is used as both a virtual advertising platform and a way of life for many entrepreneurs.
But if Microsoft were to purchase Linden Lab and take the reigns of Second Life, all that revenue could be gone, possibly converted to Microsoft Points. For now, Microsoft is refusing to comment on rumor.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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freename moriconMass exodus coming up!!Personally, i would rather grind for hours than go near second life!!Reply
Mass exodus? You mean the 23 people that play second life will leave? -
rooket I wonder what armageddon would be like in second life :)Reply
Imvu is vastly more popular. Both programs will suck the life out of any human being. -
wizard gynoid the source of this rumor is a twitter user named @tizzer. this is a notorious second life griefer whose sim and avatar were permanently banned by Linden Lab. this user was also at one time partnered to one of the main characters in the recent second life scandal Emeraldgate.Reply -
jhansonxi wizard gynoidthe source of this rumor is a twitter user named @tizzer. this is a notorious second life griefer whose sim and avatar were permanently banned by Linden Lab. this user was also at one time partnered to one of the main characters in the recent second life scandal Emeraldgate.Quit ruining the speculation with facts.Reply
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braneman Microsoft can do a good job on something provided they concentrate on the core of the matter and leave the rest to 3rd party dev's, windows 7 is a great example of this, windows live is a great example of how not to do it. I really don't have much to say about second life however.Reply -
Darkerson Kind of unexpected, but whatever floats MS's boat I guess. I tried to play SL a couple times, but I usually got bored and went back and played WoW or something else.Reply