From...

February 17, 1999
Web posted at: 6:26 p.m. EST (2326 GMT)

by Lessley Anderson

(IDG) -- Purple Moon, the Mountain View, Calif.-based CD-ROM developer that creates alternative games for girls based on nontraditional gender roles, has laid off 10 percent of its staff and may be negotiating a partial or full acquisition, the company confirmed.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE
	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
Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net
IDG.net's personal news page
Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you
Search IDG.net in 12 languages
Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletter for computer industry cognoscenti
News Radio
	Fusion audio primers
	Computerworld Minute

"We're reevaluating our business," Karen Gould, a Purple Moon spokeswoman, told The Standard. "Consolidation is one possibility."

Gould denied rumours from sources within the company that Purple Moon plans to kill its CD-ROM division and refocus the brand around its Web site. Gould said that the layoffs were the result of a company restructuring, and that CD-ROM production was on schedule, with a new title shipping next month. Prior to the layoffs, the company had 40 full-time employees as well as a number of contractors. Company officials refused to comment on whether the restructuring meant they would be using fewer contract workers.

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, 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 are targeted toward girls ages 8-12. 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.

Purple Moon's Web site, which spawned a vigorous community of young girls as well as ad sponsorships from retailers like Bonnie Bell Cosmetics, has emerged as the company's strongest asset. In October, the company launched an e-commerce portion of the site offering the CD-ROMs as well as other Purple Moon-branded products such as watches and backpacks.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.