After seventeen years active in the online space with their flagship virtual communications platform Second Life, new changes will be coming to Linden Research (more commonly known as Linden Lab) in the future. Linden Research announced last week that they are soon to be acquired by an investment group led by Randy Waterfield and Brad Oberwager – both of whom have a long history in the information technology sector. This acquisition would cover both of Liden’s significant products – the virtual world Second Life and the monetary platform Tilia.
The acquisition is not complete just yet, and is “subject to regulatory approval by financial regulators in the U.S. related to Tilia Inc.’s status as a licensed money transmitter as well as other customary closing conditions”. Once approved, this will see both Waterfield and Oberwager join Linden Research’s board of directors. Very little other information is known about both services going forward, outside of the claim that this would unlock “new growth & expansion opportunities”. Understandably, some active users of Second Life may be apprehensive about this acquisition, and what some may have put almost two decades into developing. Here’s hoping it will only enhance and enrich the service for the modern-day. Perhaps with the ongoing transfer to cloud servers, they might potentially lower the price of private regions down from $349.00 USD (w/ maintenance fee of $229.00 USD) to something more accessible…
Although seventeen years old and potentially classed by some as a “relic of an older generation of the internet”, Second Life is still receiving active development by Linden Lab, which makes creating characters and environments in the virtual world up to current-day standards while also making tools available for the community to develop and sell their own assets. Whether looking to hang with friends virtually, take photos, build, explore or (erotic) role-play; the service has received renewed interest during COVID-19, to the point where the current deployment of new user-created sims isn’t possible.