Innovative Technology Solves Virtual World Industry Debate; Developers Gain Flexibility to Make Virtual Worlds Available in 2D and 3D - Simultaneously!
The Multiverse Network, Inc., a leading provider of virtual world development technology for social worlds, Massively Multiplayer Online Games, educational worlds, and business collaboration spaces, today unveiled the ability for consumers to enter virtual worlds built atop the Multiverse Platform with either the company's standard 3D World Browser or via Flash, embedded in a web page.
The most heated debate in the virtual world industry is which format -- 2D or 3D -- is the bigger opportunity in the near term. Development teams have been forced to choose which format to develop for, which has slowed the industry's growth.
"On one end of the spectrum you've got incredibly rich 3D online worlds like Blizzard's World of Warcraft, with over ten million subscribers, bringing in a billion dollars a year in recurring revenue," said Bill Turpin, co-founder and CEO, Multiverse. "At the other end, there's Club Penguin, an extremely popular 2D environment, which Disney acquired for $700 million. Multiverse has solved the problem, giving developers the freedom to develop for both 2D and 3D."
Multiverse unveiled its new Flash technology during the Virtual Worlds 2008 Conference in New York. Using an internally-built world, Virtual Times Square, Multiverse demonstrated how two different computers -- one with the standard 3D Multiverse World Browser, and the other equipped with just a web browser -- could provide simultaneous access and interaction inside the same world.
Today's announcement marks an innovation milestone, as no other technology platform delivers a similar capability. This advancement is in line with Multiverse's vision of virtual worlds: that they must enhance and embrace the existing web, rather than attempt to supplant it.
Developers Gain Greater Flexibility
The ability to build a virtual world that consumers can access with 2D Flash greatly expands the overall market for virtual worlds. Flash is an ideal option for developers interested in targeting consumers with older computers or systems without high-end graphics processors, as well as those who may want to experience a virtual world through a mobile computing device.
Whether to build in 3D or 2D -- or both -- is completely up to the individual development team and their project's unique requirements. This means that developers now have a simple new way to introduce consumers to a virtual world: with an easy-to-access 2D Flash experience. Consumers can later be guided into a richer, more immersive 3D version of a world. Consumers in 2D won't even know they're chatting and interacting with players in 3D, and vice versa.
"Developers of Flash games can now benefit from the most scalable and customizable servers in the virtual world industry," said Corey Bridges, co-founder and executive producer, Multiverse. "With these new capabilities, we'll soon see true virtual worlds appearing on social networks like Facebook and MySpace. The intersection of virtual worlds and social networks starts here."
The powerful Multiverse platform features that Flash developers now have access to include extreme scalability -- up to 2000 logins per server -- and numerous customizable systems like combat, inventory, level, and experience.
Multiverse is creating a network of virtual worlds. Its technology platform is changing the economics of this medium by empowering development teams to create high-quality, Massively Multiplayer Online Games and non-game virtual worlds for less money and in less time than ever before.
Multiverse solves the industry's prohibitive challenges by providing development teams with the Multiverse Platform, a comprehensive, pre-coded client-server infrastructure and tools, a wide range of free content --including sample worlds for modification -- and a built-in market of consumers. The company gives consumers a single program -- the Multiverse World Browser -- that lets them play all of the games and worlds built on the company's platform and available in the company's network. Over 19,000 registered developer teams have downloaded the Multiverse platform to build worlds.