Worlds Inc.

Overview

Founded in April 1994 as Knowledge Adventure Worlds, then a subsidiary of Knowledge Adventure, Worlds Inc. assisted development with a number of Knowledge Adventure titles, while at the same time researching and developing their own virtual world technology.

In October 1994, Worlds announced its first virtual world program, Starbright World, created in cooperation with Starbright Foundation (a sister group of Starlight Foundation) and Steven Spielberg. Operating from June 1995 into 1997, the program was designed as a chat room for seriously- and terminally-ill children and teens, for use in hospitals. In April 1995, Worlds would release Worlds Chat, a public virtual world chatroom partially based off of Starbright World. Alongside the release, Worlds would split off of Knowledge Adventure, rebranding as Worlds Inc.

At the same time as Starbright World and Worlds Chat were being developed, a group of developers at Worlds were working on their own virtual world program in their spare time. The program, known as AlphaWorld (later Active Worlds), was focused around user-created content, an approach which Worlds Chat had foregone in order to encourage partnerships such as the ones which led to Starbright World. Worlds would release AlphaWorld in beta in 1995 as an alternative to Worlds Chat, however in 1997 following mass-layoffs, Worlds would sell AlphaWorld to Circle of Fire Studios, a content-creation group dedicated to AlphaWorld.

Worlds Inc. would experience another mass-layoff in 2001, laying off the majority of their staff. Worlds Inc. continues to operate the servers for Worlds Chat, but has since shifted its focus to patent protection.