Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Metaplace Closes


Metaplace, the brainchild of former Sony Online Entertainment creative exec Raph Koster, will cease service effective January 1, 2010. In a message to users, Koster wrote, "Unfortunately, over the last few months it has become apparent that Metaplace as a consumer user-generated content service is not gaining enough traction to be a viable product, requiring a strategic shift for our company." Metaplace with throw itself one last party, in-world, on New Year's Day; the company will then transition to another format, something Koster has yet to detail. The company will cease billing of users immediately and refund fees paid for virtual items and subscriptions paid in December. Metaplace, an open platform for creating virtual worlds, spawned over 70,000 individual worlds. All that comes to an end in just over a week.

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