San Diego, Calif.-based Metaplce had created a site over the past few years that could host virtual worlds that users created by themselves. The quality of the worlds ranged from the simple to the elaborate. But it wasn’t working as a business.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":148760,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,games,","session":"A"}']The company told its users today, “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.”
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Metaplace had raised $9.4 million from Charles River Ventures, Crescendo Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
“We are losing some friends and colleagues here as part of this strategic shift,” the company said.
The company says it will turn off billing immediately and refund any fees paid for virtual items or subscriptions in the month of December. Users will be able to retrieve some assets from their worlds so they can conceivably reconstruct them on some other platform. But there is nowhere for them to migrate the worlds to, as is. Users can capture their worlds with screen shots, data downloads etc., and they can commisserate at a forum site.
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