Netbabyworld
{{refimprove|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Netbabyworld AB
| foundation = 1999
| defunct = 2003
| location_city = Gothenburg
| location_country = Sweden
| industry = Video game industry
| products = Browser games
| homepage = [http://www.netbabyworld.com/ netbabyworld.com]
}}
Netbabyworld is one of the first browser-based social gaming sites, known for its distinctive low-polygon 3d imagery, centered on an ensemble cast of characters. The company that developed the games found on the site went bankrupt in 2003; the site remains online but has not been maintained since.
History
Netbabyworld was founded as a merge venture with the Swedish company PlayCom. Under its former title Game Design Sweden AB, PlayCom had developed Kula World for the PlayStation in the late 1990s. The website was launched in 1999 by Jens Rudberg, Jesper Kouthoofd and David Eriksson. It was ultimately a short lived venture, going bankrupt in 2003. The Playcom website stated that "In April 2003 PlayCom was acquired through a management buyout by the management team, as well as key employees from former Netbaby World." It was around this time that the community features were removed, and site updates ceased. Rudberg, Kouthoofd and Eriksson returned to freelancing product design and later founded Teenage Engineering.{{cite magazine |last= Tylevich |first= Katya |date= Summer 2013 |title= Stockholm. |url= https://elephant.art/|magazine= Elephant, Issue 15, p130-175 |location= |publisher= |access-date= 2023-07-31}}
Netbabyworld created around 20 games from 1999–2003, initially through Macromedia Shockwave, then later moving to their own proprietary PlayCom engine.
As of 2023, Netbabyworld.com is still online and serving Shockwave-based games. The games are largely non-functional, given that Shockwave Player was discontinued in 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://helpx.adobe.com/shockwave/shockwave-end-of-life-faq.html|title=End of Life (EOL) for Adobe Shockwave|website=helpx.adobe.com|access-date=2019-12-23}} A former member of the team, Nick Sakellariou, released a mobile version of Ninja Girl in the late 2000s.{{cite web|url=http://www.nbw.nu/ninja/ |title=Ninja Girl |publisher=Nick Sakellariou |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306180910/http://www.nbw.nu/ninja/ |archivedate=March 6, 2009 }}
Reception
While the site enjoyed a great deal of popularity through this period, winning the 2002 Webby Award for best game site,{{cite web|url=http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=6|title=2002 Webby nominees & Winners|publisher=Webby awards|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029212542/http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=6|archivedate=2009-10-29}} Netbaby's monetization model was unclear.
References
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.netbabyworld.com}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060114081920/http://www.playcom.se/ Official Playcom website] (archived)
Category:Video game companies established in 1999
Category:Video game companies disestablished in 2003
Category:Video game development companies
Category:Browser-based game websites