A child protection scandal and failure to innovate have left Habbo Hotel — once one of the most popular virtual worlds — reeling. Now with the departure of CEO Paul LaFontaine, it’s feeling increasingly like the Finnish company faces a do or die moment.
Despite repeated attempts, Google has failed to make much headway in the world of social networking. Now the search giant is said to be working on a social network based around games, but will such a move turn the search giant into a noteworthy competitor in that sector? If examples like Wave and Buzz are any indication, Google still has a long way to go.
Walt Disney has made a major foray into the world of social games, by agreeing to pay as much as $763 million to acquire Playdom, a leading maker of games such as Mobsters and Sorority Life. It is the fourth largest game maker on Facebook.