Above: Cloud Party before being acquired and shuttered by Yahoo!
Thanks to everyone, especially VR legend Jacki Morie, for helping update this list of sunsetted virtual worlds that I'm compiling with Julian Reyes and the Virtual Worlds Museum. Based on that feedback, we're adding these three to the VWM's exhibit:
Barbie Girls - 2007 to 2011
Browser-based virtual world based on the Barbie IP where players could customize their own room and avatar, and communicate with each through pre-selected phrases. Discontinued by Mattel, with the company directing players to enjoy Barbe-themed avatars on Stardoll.
WorldsAway - 1995 to 1998
A 2.5D world developed by a subsidiary of Fujitsu and first launched on CompuServe, users had customizable avatars and rentable, customizable homes called "turfs". Acquired in 1998 and rebranded as VZones. Reference.
Cloud Party - 2012 to 2014
Browser-based virtual world backed with funding by Second Life co-founder Cory Ondrejka, developed by ex-Cryptic Studios CTO Bruce Rogers, with robust creation tools. Acquired by Yahoo! In 2014 and taken offline. Reference.
I'm a bit embarrassed for missing Cloud Party from the first draft, especially as I was the first person to blog about it!
See the rest of the sunsetted worlds documented here or below. Now that we have our final (or near-final) list, we'll be moving on to Specialized virtual worlds, especially those for Education/Training, Meetings, and Enterprise. Check for that next week!
Again, we're defining "sunsetted virtual worlds" as platforms which are a) a multi-user but non-MMORPG virtual world depicted in 2D or 3D graphics, b) where users can customize their own space/room/realm/etc., and c) are no longer generally or commercially available to access online.
Current Virtual Worlds Museum list (updates on site in process)
- Habitat (video game) - 1986 to 1988
- MicroMUSE - 1990 to 1994
- CitySpace - 1993 to 1996
- Horseland - 1994 to 2019
- The Palace - 1994 to 2001
- Active Worlds - 1995 to 2010
- Cybernet Worlds - 1995 to 2010
- CyberTown - 1995 to 2012
- KidsCom - 1995 to 2019
- Starbright World - 1995 to 1997
- OZ Virtual - 1996-1999
- WorldsAway - 1995 to 1998
- SAPARi - 1997-2003
- Forterra Systems - 1998-2010
- Worlds.com - 1998-2020
- WeeWorld - 2000-2017
- Adobe Atmosphere - 2001-2004
- MyCoke - 2002-2010
- Toontown Online - 2003-2013
- Croquet Project - 2004-2009
- Club Penguin - 2005-2017
- Coolroom - 2006-2008
- HiPiHi - 2006-2012
- Metaplace - 2006-2010
- Vside - 2006-2009
- OpenLife Grid - 2007-2013
- Smeet - 2007-2024
- (Lil) Green Patch - 2008-2010
- Google Lively - 2008-2008
- ourWorld - 2008-2021
- Pet Society - 2008-2013
- Playstation Home - 2008-2015
- SmallWorlds - 2008-2018
- Solipsis - 2008-2009
- Twinity - 2008-2021
- YoVille - 2008-2014
- Blue Mars - 2009 - 2014
- High Fidelity - 2013-2020
- Altspace - 2015-2023
- WaveXR - 2016-2020
- Anyland - 2016-2024
- Open Cobalt - 2016-2022
- Pararea VR - 2017-2024
- Stageverse - 2017-2024
- Mozilla Hubs - 2018-2024
- Third Room - 2021-2023
- Alakazam - 2023-2024
- PixelMax - 2021-2024
- Yabal - 2021-2024
Now is this compilation fully complete?
Seems to be quite complete and thorough. I did knew only about Active Worlds, Blue Mars, High Fidelity and Cloud party; maybe a couple of quickly to appear and die projects from large corporations on top of that, but rest of the names in the list are new - a reason to make a visit to the museum ).
Posted by: Lex4art | Wednesday, April 09, 2025 at 09:20 AM
Wouldn't InWorldz (2010-2018) not count for this list?
Posted by: Kylinn | Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 05:29 AM