PaidContent: Microsoft Secretly Bought 3D Web World Vivaty Recently (Is This the Source of the Rumors?)

Via my pal and early Linden Hunter Walk (now a YouTube bigwig) comes this story from PaidContent: "Microsoft’s Secret Acquisition Spree" which reports this:

Vivaty, a 3D virtual world... shut down in April, saying it was out of money. At the time, Founder Keith McCurdy, a former VP at Electronic Arts told VentureBeat the company was in the final stages of being sold and that its IP would be used “as the foundation for something else.” The buyer was Microsoft, McCurdy tells us in an e-mail.

Emphasis mine, for obvious reasons. My interpretation: This report very likely suggests the kernel of truth to the strange rumors pinging through the Internet. Also, it illustrates a fourth thing to keep in mind about tech rumors: A named, credible source is about ten times as reliable as an unnamed source of unknown provenance.

Comments

[Eggy Lippmann]

From the article: "We thought there would more consumer demand for a lightweight web based 3D avatar community along the lines of a simpler Second Life, and it just didn’t turn out that way."

...you mean like There? Talk about not doing your homework... :)

[Rin Tae]

This might almost be the source of the roumour or the inspiration for the person who let it out into the world to cause screams and drama.

However I find it interesting that it took so long for MS to buy anything like this and use it as a base for their own development. They might have spend the time watching SL and since it has not grown as large as many people in LL most likely hoped at the start they now decided that the time is right to grab their share of the market.

I hope they remember 'Lively' ^_^

[Miso Susanowa]

I hope people also remember Microsoft's history with VRML, The Palace and more and keep their grid presence mobile and flexible.

[Ciaran Laval]

Well to be fair, some of the sites who mentioned the rumour also suggest Microsoft may be looking at others too, such as Mary-Jo Foley:

"Microsoft isn’t commenting on the Linden Lab report, but I’ve been asking around and hear from my sources that Microsoft may have made overtures not only toward Linden Lab, but other social-gaming vendors lately. The word from my sources is the Softies are not simply talking partnerships; they’re talking outright purchase."

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/might-microsoft-break-its-acquisition-drought-with-a-social-gaming-company/7531?tag=content;selector-blogs

[cube inada]

yawn...
keith victor has been at MS for many months now according to his social media profiles.

sources...lol
rumours..

and still web3d media is all nothing more than it was 15 years....

MS has buried web3d for over a decade.... , i dont see them providing "shoes" and "sims" anytime soon.

[Little Lost Linden]

This article makes me wonder if Microsoft will purchase Planet Michael.

[Chocolate Milkshakes]

Blue Mars is more compatible with MS. As for Vivaty, it fits in with their mobile strategy. I'm not saying it will work, just that it fits with where they might like to go.

As for SL, why? Look at the lawsuit they just threw onto Moto. Let's hope LL does not sell to these people.

[LinuX]

where is Vivaty Studio and Vivaty Player on M$ pages for download? nowhere. They killed Vivaty out of greed.