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Back in January, we took a look at the big issues for NetDevil, a Louisville game developer who built the LEGO Universe, a massively multiplayer online game based on LEGO bricks. Building a successful MMO can be risky, let alone based on one of the most revered toys of all time. It turns out that LEGO Universe was a critical hit, but now the company is grappling with another challenge: the vagaries of corporate machinations.
The problems started right after the release of LEGO Universe in late October. In the final months of 2010, the three founders of NetDevil and some of the main forces behind the LEGO game – Scott Brown, Peter Grundy and Ryan Seabury – left the company.
This was concerning for LEGO Universe, because unlike a typical video game, a lot of the work and development of an online game happens after its release. In order for players to come back (and pay the monthly fee), the company must continually update the game.
The unrest seems to have peaked at the end of last week. Rumors emerged that the company with 100 or more employees was losing staff. According to some sources, some dismissed workers found out about their plight through Facebook posts (ouch). Then it turned out that the LEGO Group, the strongholds of all good and fun, had come from Denmark to take control. On Thursday, LEGO announced that it was purchasing all rights to the LEGO Universe from Gazillion Entertainment, the giant games company that owned NetDevil. The other NetDevil developers working on the game will continue their efforts in Louisville, but will now be employees of the LEGO Group. Gazillion, meanwhile, will focus only on free online games.
No word on where that leaves the NetDevil mark, let alone what other games the company had in the works, including Fortune Online and Jumpgate Evolution.
Will one of Colorado’s few game companies, as well as the most successful, take it to the next level – or is the game over?
More from our Follow That Story archive: “Next Big Sound: Billboard’s New ‘Social 50’ Graphic Powered by Music Startup Boulder. Follow Joel Warner on Twitter @joelmwarner.
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