Social network Hi5 has acquired PixVerse, one of the application developers creating apps for Hi5 and its rivals. The company was responsible for the popular Pix Chat and Pix Wall applications, which let users communicate with each other.
Is there a direct virtual world angle? Not on the surface - although PixVerse is described as having a “virtual world platform” in its press release, this is more about chat and interactions rather than a virtual world as we’d think of it.
However, there are still implications for virtual world providers, particularly those who’ve taken their worlds onto social networks like Hi5 and Facebook. It’s one of the first examples of a social network actually buying in an application developer, rather than simply letting them use its application platform.
It could become a trend though: the social networks are keen to raise the engagement of their users - how much time they spend on the sites. If this translates into buying up suitable app developers, then virtual world startups could be quids in - but only if they can sign up enough users first to prove they have momentum.
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