Linden Lab Stops Development and Support of Three Non-Second Life Products

Linden Lab is trimming it's product line. In a statement made yesterday, they announced that they would no longer be developing or supporting three less successful goods, Versu, Dio, and Creatorverse.

After careful consideration, Linden Lab has decided to cease development and support for dio, Versu, and Creatorverse. We’re grateful for those who took the time to experiment with these products in their early days, but ultimately we have determined that due to a number of factors, we and our customers will be best served by focusing our efforts on continuing to provide exceptional service and compelling new experiences for the users of our other products.

Creatorverse was an iPad application launched in Sept 18, 2012 that drew comparisons to another app, "Crayon Physics Deluxe," which was made several years ago. Dio was announced in January 27, 2013 as a "creative and social experience" in which people could "create places by adding text, photos, videos, and interactive objects into interconnected 'rooms' " that people compared to a MUD or MUSH with pictures. Versu, released on February 14, 2013, was an interactive fiction (aka choose-your-own-adventure) product that gave the reader options on how the story would proceed. While some thought it was a good application, it was noted there were already a number of interactive readers with established markets that Linden Lab would have to spend effort and money to break into.

The end of these applications leaves Linden Lab with just three products other than Second Life. These are "Patterns," which has gotten comparisons to Minecraft, "Blocksworld," a child-friendly application where players can build things with blocks, and "Desura," a digital distribution service much like Steam, but with an emphasis on smaller, independent games. Of these, only Patterns was developed by Linden Lab. The other two were acquired.

(edited later) When Hamlet Au interviewed Ebbe Altberg, he stated “We’ll do some clean-up, there’s some things that are not as aligned." So this seems to be Ebbe's first major decision as Linden Lab's new boss.

Bixyl Shuftan