 |
| CNN WEB SITES: |
|
| TIME INC. SITES: |
| MORE SERVICES: |
| video on demand |
| video archive |
| audio on demand |
| news email services |
| free email accounts |
| desktop headlines |
| pointcast |
| pagenet |
| DISCUSSION: |
| message boards |
| chat |
| feedback |
| SITE GUIDES: |
| help |
| contents |
| search |
| FASTER ACCESS: |
| europe |
| japan |
| WEB SERVICES: |
From...
Girls' gaming company may shut its doors
February 15, 1999
Web posted at: 12:57 p.m. EST (1757 GMT)
by Lessley Anderson
(IDG) -- Purple Moon, the San Francisco-based CD-ROM developer that created alternative games for girls based on nontraditional gender roles, has laid off a number of its employees and may be shutting down its CD-ROM operations, sources within the company said.
The fate of Purple Moon's popular Web site, which spawned a vigorous community of young girls as well as ad sponsorships from retailers like Bonnie Bell Cosmetics, remains unclear. A companywide meeting is scheduled for Friday morning to spell out the details, which are rumored to include the news that all or part of the company has been acquired, and that its Web venture will continue.
|
| ||
|---|---|---|
|
IDG.net home page | |
| Industry Standard home page | ||
| Industry Standard email newsletters | ||
| Industry Standard daily Media Grok | ||
| Industry Standard financial news | ||
| Industry Standard e-commerce stories | ||
|
Fusion financial report Free registration required to access this site | ||
| InfoWorld Internet commerce section | ||
Purple Moon Media was born in November 1996 and immediately caught the imagination of both the trade and mainstream media. The highest-profile project to come out of Paul Allen and David Liddle's Interval Research creative think tank, the games company and its products were the result of exhaustive research on how girls play. Purple Moon's outspoken Pagan, feminist founder and VP of design, Brenda Laurel, sought to create an unprecedented niche in the gaming market for games that offered girls a deeper, smarter alternative to Barbie. The series of "friendship adventures" that ensued featured multicultural, spunky girls who personified the findings of Interval Research: Besides fashion and boys, girls enjoy things like secrets, collecting, storytelling, mythology, deep friendships and a little social competition.
Purple Moon's simple, animated products were targeted toward girls ages 7-12. The first series, "Rockett's New School," was built around a school scenario, and the second, "Secret Paths by the Sea," involved a fantasy-nature environment designed to explore alternative mythology. Purple Moon's CD-ROMs, though critically acclaimed, never became the runaway hits the company hoped they would be. Steep competition came from more traditional products like Mattel's popular Barbie Fashion Designer CD-ROM.